A Hong Kong court on Thursday sentenced pro-democracy activist Joshua Wong to ten more years in prison on alleged "foreign collusion charges."
Wong is a 30 year-old activist and was one of the co-founders of the pro-democracy organization Demosisto in the former British crown colony.
Wong was originally arrested in 2020 alongside several other activists during the communist Chinese regime's brutal anti-democracy crackdown, enacted under its tyrannical "National Security Law (NSL) in response to that year's wave of pro-democracy protests. Demosisto was disbanded after the NSL was approved.
Prior to the new sentence, the activist had already spent roughly six years in jail and is presently serving a roughly five-year prison sentence on spurious "subversion" charges, with an expected January 2027 release date. However, the BBC reports that a HK court imposed a new ten-year sentence on Wong on Thursday for allegedly "colluding with foreign forces" against Hong Kong and the Beijing communist regime. The new sentence was also issued within the framework of the regime's NSL.
Wong is now expected to remain imprisoned until 2036, when he will be 40 years of age.
A supporter holds up a paper with Joshua Wong's name written on it in Chinese at the high court on November 5, 2026 in Hong Kong. Hong Kong Pro-Democracy Activist Joshua Wong was sentenced at a Hong Kong court under the National Security Law. (Vernon Yuen/Nexpher Images via Getty)
Per Deutsche Welle, Wong pleaded guilty to the charges September, a move that usually reduces sentencing, as according to HK law, a "foreign collusion" offense may carry a punishment of up to life imprisonment if the alleged offense is deemed to have been of a "serious nature."
According to the new charges, Wong, and self-exiled activist and fellow Demosito co-founder Nathan Law stood accused of allegedly asking foreign countries and international organizations to impose human rights sanctions on the Beijing regime over the brutal crackdown of the pro-democracy movement. Said alleged actions, the prosecutors reportedly affirmed, took place between July and November 2020, right amid that year's brutal anti-democracy movement crackdown. Prosecutors reportedly branded both Wong and Law as the "masterminds" and "ring-leaders" of the alleged foreign collusion movement.
"The punishment must fit the gravity of the crime," Hong Kong High Court Judge William Tam reportedly said while delivering the sentence "It is also necessary for the court to express the community's abhorrence of the defendant's scheme and acts with others to collude with foreign forces or external elements to endanger national security."
Judge Tam initially set a 13-year sentence against Wong, which was reduced down to ten after the activist pleaded guilty. No further reductions to the sentence were offered by the judge.
"The offense took place at a time when Hong Kong was coping with the social turmoil that was happening locally; and in order to achieve their own political aims, the defendant, together with [Law] and their affiliates, exacerbated that situation in Hong Kong by colluding with foreign governments or external elements," the judge reportedly affirmed.
The Hong Kong Free Press noted that individuals imprisoned under the NSL face a higher threshold to secure an early release from jail on good behavior, meaning that a sentence reduction appears for Wong appears to be highly unlikely. The activist reportedly waved to his supporters gathered outside the court as prison guards led him away.
A UK immigration officer and a London-based Hong Kong trade official have been found guilty of utilising Home Office systems to track down and spy on dissidents in Britain on behalf of China. https://t.co/TwaR6c8xeh
— Breitbart News (@BreitbartNews) May 10, 2026
The U.S. Consulate in Hong Kong condemned the new sentence against Joshua Wong and called for his immediate release.
"Wong has been unjustly imprisoned since December 2020, demonstrating that Beijing will go to extraordinary lengths to silence those who advocate for fundamental freedoms in Hong Kong," a consulate spokesperson said in remarks shared with AFP on early Thursday morning.
Frances Hui, a friend of Wong and a fellow pro-democracy activist, told the BBC that she felt "heartbroken" and "outraged" by the verdict. Hui presently resides in the United States.
"Today's sentencing is not just about Joshua. It is part of a broader political crackdown that seeks to rewrite a chapter of Hong Kong's history and erase the contributions of an entire generation who believed they could shape the future of their city," she said.
The Communist Chinese regime has extensively used its tyrannical NSL since 2020 to brutally persecute pro-democracy activists and movements in Hong Kong, with local courts issuuing excessively long prison sentences on "subversion" and other dubious and highly-questionable charges.
In September, HK activists Lee Cheuk-yan, Chow Hang-tung, and Albert Ho were given up to seven years prison sentences for organizing peaceful candlelight vigils in memory of the 1989 Tiananmen Square massacre in Hong Kong.
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