Hong Kong: Joshua Wong, the face of the pro-democracy movement, sentenced to 10 years in prison
The student leader, who has been in prison for six years on charges of subversion, is due to be released in January
from our correspondent Marco Masciaga
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NEW DELHI – A Hong Kong court has sentenced Joshua Wong, the figurehead of the pro-democracy movement in the former British colony, to 10 years in prison. The sentence comes just two months before Wong, who is already serving a sentence for subversion, was due to be released.
The sentence handed down on Thursday by the High Court is one of the harshest imposed under the national security law imposed by Beijing. It is surpassed only by the 20-year sentence handed down to former media magnate Jimmy Lai and is identical to that received by former law lecturer Benny Tai.
The three were leading figures in the movement that fought unsuccessfully for greater political freedom in the Chinese Special Administrative Region. Their detention highlights the authorities’ efforts to crack down on dissent since Beijing introduced the National Security Law following the mass protests of 2019.
Wong – who has already spent six years in prison and celebrated his 30th birthday in a prison cell last month – pleaded guilty last September to conspiring in collusion with foreign forces. At the time of the protests, Wong had met with US and American politicians, provoking Beijing’s anger. He was due to be released in January.
According to the prosecution, Wong is alleged to have conspired with the exiled activist Nathan Law and others to ask foreign countries, organisations or individuals outside China to impose sanctions or embargoes, or to take other hostile actions against the government. In pleading guilty, Wong emphasised that he had never called for Hong Kong’s independence nor sought to promote regime change in China.
