Photo: Joshua Wong in 2019 / Studio Incendo, Wikimedia Commons / CC BY 2.0
Joshua Wong, once the face of Hong Kong’s pro-democracy movement, was sentenced to 10 years in prison on Thursday for colluding with foreign forces under the city’s national security law, the BBC reported.
Wong, who turned 30 last month, pleaded guilty in September. The court heard the conduct took place between July and late November 2020, when prosecutors said he conspired with other campaigners, including self-exiled activist Nathan Law, to lobby for foreign sanctions and blockades against Beijing.
Two months and two days of the new term will run concurrently with the 56-month subversion sentence Wong is already serving, the judge said. He had been due for release in January.
Hong Kong chief executive John Lee said Wong and Law were “among the primary culprits responsible for undermining Hong Kong’s prosperity and stability,” and Beijing’s foreign ministry said China “firmly supports” Hong Kong in safeguarding national security. Human Rights Watch called the ruling “cruel and unjust,” and Wong’s friend, US-based activist Frances Hui, said she was “heartbroken” by a verdict she described as part of “a broader political crackdown.”
Wong co-founded the now-defunct pro-democracy party Demosisto and rose to prominence as a teenage activist during Hong Kong’s mass protests. The harshest sentence under the security law so far went to former media tycoon Jimmy Lai, jailed for 20 years, also for foreign collusion.
JBizNews Desk | Global
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