Joshua Wong Sentenced to 10 Years in Prison in Hong Kong’s Ongoing Political Crackdown

Hong Kong pro‑democracy activist Joshua Wong has been handed a 10‑year prison term after pleading guilty to conspiring with foreign forces to endanger national security. The sentencing, delivered on Thursday, follows a June 2025 trial and underscores the Chinese government’s intensified effort to suppress prominent dissent in the city.

Wong, who turned 30 earlier this year, had already been behind bars for several years. In 2024 he received a sentence of four years and eight months for a separate national‑security case stemming from his role in an unofficial 2020 primary that sought to coordinate opposition candidates for the Legislative Council.

The latest conviction centers on Wong’s admission to colluding with overseas actors—a charge that Beijing and Hong Kong authorities have increasingly used to target high‑profile critics. Prosecutors argued that the conspiracy posed a threat to national stability, a claim Wong’s supporters reject as politically motivated.

Wong’s public activism began in 2012 when, as a high‑school student, he co‑founded Scholarism and led mass protests against the government’s proposed national‑education curriculum. Thousands gathered outside government headquarters, and many participants undertook hunger strikes. Former Scholarism member Louis Lee recalled sleeping on the streets for days, fearing a repeat of the 1989 Tiananmen Square crackdown.

“Back then, the Scholarism members always joked that he was a merciless boss,” Lee said, noting that Wong’s frequent calls left a lasting impression.

Wong later became a symbolic figure in the 2014 Umbrella Movement, where protesters used umbrellas to shield themselves from police pepper spray. The demonstrations, also known as Occupy Central, occupied major thoroughfares for 79 days in an ultimately unsuccessful push for direct elections for Hong Kong’s chief executive. Scholar Chan Kin‑man, a leader of that movement, described Wong’s speeches as stirring “David taking on Goliath” energy rare for a teenager.

Chan recalled that Wong sometimes acted without prior coordination, such as storming a fenced‑off area days before the Occupy protest’s planned start, swelling turnout beyond expectations. Later, Wong and Scholarism launched a hunger strike near the movement’s end, a tactic that surprised other student groups.

After the 2014 protests stalled, Wong co‑founded the political party Demosisto in 2016, advocating for self‑determination and a referendum on Hong Kong’s political future. The group disbanded in 2020 when the national‑security law took effect, prompting Wong to seek overseas support and urging U.S. lawmakers to pass the Hong Kong Human Rights and Democracy Act.

Beijing condemned his overseas lobbying as “begging for interference.” During the 2019 anti‑government protests, Wong’s role on the streets diminished, but he continued to campaign abroad, pressing for sanctions against China.

Personal reflections from those who knew Wong reveal a complex figure. Lee visits him regularly, describing a softer side behind bars: Wong reads extensively, enrolls in university courses, teaches himself guitar, and sends cards on special occasions. Chan recalled a 2021 exchange in which Wong asked him to send “Letters to Olga,” the prison letters of Czech dissident Václav Havel, indicating a desire for personal growth.

“He was a political machine,” Chan said. “But through our correspondence later, I feel he is someone who is very reflective, and an increasingly mature politician.”

Before his June 2025 arrest, Wong had been expected to be released in January 2026. The timing of the new sentence effectively extends his incarceration for years to come.

“The message he gave me is that the most important thing is to not forget why you first stepped forward,” Lee said, quoting Wong’s advice from 2021. “He also believes that what we learned in the organization will continue to be useful today and will keep helping us grow.”

Although Scholarism dissolved a decade ago, Lee still keeps a book of the group in which Wong, aged 16, wrote a letter to his future self: “I truly believe that having space as a student to participate in social movements and to contribute a little more to Hong Kong, I can at least tell everyone that I have lived vibrantly and meaningfully.”

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