Activist Joshua Wong awaits sentencing today

[AP Photo]

A Hong Kong court is set to hand down a sentence to pro-democracy activist Joshua Wong Thursday for his second conviction under the national security law that has effectively stifled the city’s democracy movement.

Wong, 30, pleaded guilty to conspiracy to collude with foreign forces to endanger national security in September, facing a maximum penalty of life imprisonment. Pleading guilty typically reduces a sentence.

The court hearing is scheduled to begin at 9:30 a.m. Thursday and is expected to last 30 minutes.

The former student leader of the democracy movement was already serving a prison term of four years and eight months after entering a guilty plea in a separate national security case linked to an unofficial primary for the pro-democracy camp.

To Beijing, Wong is an anti-China figure who supports Hong Kong independence, a political stance China views as a red line.

To his supporters, Wong was a voice for a younger generation born in the final years of British colonial rule before the city was handed back to China in 1997.

In 2021, Wong became one of 47 activists charged in the city’s biggest national security case for his role in the unofficial primary. He was sentenced in November 2024 and had been expected to be freed in January 2027.

But Wong was charged again for the collusion-related case in June 2025.

The prosecution alleged that Wong and Law had agreed in or around 2016 to conduct international lobbying to achieve their goal of democratic self-determination. It said the pair had been calling for sanctions and other adverse measures against Hong Kong and China before the security law was enacted. It pointed to Wong’s visits to the U.S. and other international advocacy efforts.

After the law was introduced, Wong, Law and others continued to pursue their agreement, the prosecution said.

While Law and others worked from abroad, Wong supported the effort from Hong Kong through foreign media outlets and social media to draw foreign countries’ attention and bolster the request for sanctions, blockade or other hostile measures against China and Hong Kong, it said.

Wong admitted to the accusations in court in September.

In pleading for a lesser penalty, Wong’s lawyer Derek Chan urged the court to impose a sentence that would give his client some hope.

Chan said in September that Wong has spent nearly six years in prison and he has had a “lengthy opportunity to reflect” on his path. He said Wong did not waste his time behind bars. He read books and has matured substantially in his thinking. Wong hopes to take care of his parents after being released, Chan added.

After he pleaded guilty, Tiffany Chin, a former member of Scholarism, a now-dissolved group co-founded by Wong, told reporters that while Wong was mentally prepared, he was also facing “a great deal of psychological or mental pressure.” Agencies