Hong Kong democracy activist Joshua Wong has been sentenced to an additional 10 years in prison for colluding with foreign powers. Wong, who gained international recognition during the 2014 Umbrella Movement protests in Hong Kong, has spent nearly six years behind bars and is now expected to remain in detention……
Hong Kong democracy activist Joshua Wong has been sentenced to an additional 10 years in prison for colluding with foreign powers.
Wong, who gained international recognition during the 2014 Umbrella Movement protests in Hong Kong, has spent nearly six years behind bars and is now expected to remain in detention until late 2036.
The former student leader, who turned 30 last month, had been expected to regain his freedom in January after serving four years and eight months for subversion under a national security law imposed by Beijing.
But he decided an “appropriate starting point” for Wong’s offence was 13 years, reduced to 10 because of his guilty plea.
With a heavy police presence outside, Wong entered the dock looking calm in a blue shirt and black glasses, nodding to supporters.
Wong said in his mitigation letter to court, seen by AFP, that he had hoped to leave prison in 2027, but the new charge made him felt he was back at the beginning.
He added that his future would not be defined by things that happened to him before 2020, and that the years he has spent behind bars have been the “most profound lessons” of his life.
After the sentencing, Wong thanked and waved to his supporters as he left. Some wept and were heard saying: “We’ll be waiting for your release.”
Wong’s fate shows that Beijing “is keeping a tight rein over Hong Kong and there’s no scope for turning back to the more relaxed days before 2019”, Steve Tsang, director of the China Institute at SOAS Univesity of London, told AFP before the sentencing.
Human Rights Watch said his sentence “cruel and unjust”, and urged foreign governments to “impose targeted sanctions on officials responsible for Hong Kong’s growing repression”.
Taiwan criticised the “endless political persecution” of Hong Kong pro-democracy activists after Wong’s sentencing.
Beijing and the Hong Kong government use “authoritarian tools” to “fabricate charges… engage in endless political persecution,” Taiwan’s top China policy body said.
Steve Li, chief superintendent of the police’s National Security Department, welcomed the sentencing, which he said “evidently proved” Wong’s efforts to rouse foreign sanctions were “futile”.
– Poliical star –
Wong rose to prominence during Hong Kong’s 2014 protests, known as the Umbrella Movement, and has been in and out of jail since 2017.
Authorities said Wong started international lobbying as early as 2016, when he promoted a bill — the Hong Kong Human Rights and Democracy Act — that would allow the US president to impose sanctions in response to rights violations in the city.
Durring Hong Kong’s massive pro-democracy protests in 2019, Wong was part of a delegation to the United States to lobby for the bill, which eventually passed.
The following year, Beijing imposed the sweeping national security law on Hong Kong that effectively quashed dissent, prompting opposition groups to disband and activists to flee the city.
At the time, Wong vowed to “continue to defend my home — Hong Kong — until they silence me”.
He was among dozens of pro-democracy figures jailed for “subversion” in 2024, in what was Hong Kong’s largest national security trial. Some of them have since been released.
– ‘Worried’ –
Louis Lee, a friend of the activist, said before the sentencing that Wong remained “energetic” in prison, but was sometimes “worried and nervous”.
During prison visits, the former student leader looked disappointed and would sigh from time to time, Lee recalled.
Margaret Chan, a 61-year-old retiree and a long-time supporter of Wong, told AFP that she was “too heartbroken” as the judge handed down the sentencing.
“He will be in his middle age by the time he is released,” she said.
AFP
