Edition · Thu 05 Nov 2026
Geo-politics Desk
Ten More Years: Joshua Wong, Face of Hong Kong's Crushed Democracy Movement, Is Sentenced Again
The activist who rose to fame as a 15-year-old protest leader was due for release in January. Now, after a second national security conviction, he faces entering middle age behind bars.
By Rachel · Edited by Chanan Zevin - Chief Editor and Head of Desks
Published
A heavy sentence
Joshua Wong, once the teenage figurehead of Hong Kong's democracy movement, was sentenced on Thursday to 10 years in prison over a second national security conviction. In September, he pleaded guilty to conspiring with fellow activists to call for foreign sanctions against China and Hong Kong in 2020, the year Beijing imposed its sweeping National Security Law on the city.
A heavy sentence
Mr. Wong is already serving four years and eight months after pleading guilty in a landmark subversion trial in 2024, and had been due for release in January. He turned 30 last month and has been behind bars since 2020.
The judge's reasoning
Calling the case "grave," Judge William Tam said Mr. Wong had conspired with others, including Nathan Law, a former legislator now living in self-exile overseas, to call for sanctions at a time of social turmoil in Hong Kong. After the security law came in, the judge said, they continued to promote such calls through their own social media and through prominent Western news outlets.
The judge's reasoning
"Whilst it is a very heavy sentence on the defendant, the punishment must fit the gravity of the crime committed," Judge Tam said. Prosecutors said the lobbying included meetings with American politicians, among them former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Marco Rubio, then a senator and now secretary of state.
'Never driven by hatred'
In a mitigation letter, Mr. Wong wrote that his activism "was never driven by hatred," and that he had spent his time in jail studying law and following technology, including artificial intelligence. "Yet none of my aspirations for the future is more important than my solemn wish to care for my ageing parents once I complete my sentence," he wrote.
'Never driven by hatred'
When he was led into court on Thursday, wearing a navy shirt and his familiar black-framed glasses, he nodded to supporters in the public gallery, who took turns filing through the limited seats.
From schoolboy protester to prisoner
Mr. Wong rose to prominence in 2012, at 15, leading protests that forced the government to drop a plan for compulsory Chinese civic education. Under the security law, that curriculum is now compulsory in every school. Two years later he became a leader of the Umbrella Movement, which blocked major roads for 79 days.
From schoolboy protester to prisoner
Beijing and the Hong Kong government say the security law has restored stability after the huge, often violent protests of 2019. Rights groups say it has stifled dissent. Since it took effect, civic groups have disbanded, independent news outlets have closed, and the city's legislature is made up only of pro-Beijing loyalists. Most pro-democracy figures are now in prison or in exile.