HONG KONG--Activist Joshua Wong, who became the global face of Hong Kong's pro-democracy movement, was sentenced on Thursday to 10 years in jail on a charge of collusion with foreign entities under the city's national security law.
Wong was among a group of young people whose protest efforts have effectively been outlawed by a sweeping national security law Beijing imposed on the Asian financial hub in 2020, after sometimes violent demonstrations.
"The punishment must fit the gravity of the crime," High Court Judge William Tam told a packed courtroom while delivering a sentence shorter than the maximum penalty of life in jail. "It is also necessary for the court to express the community’s abhorrence of the defendant's scheme and acts with others to collude with foreign forces or external elements to endanger national security."
Wong, now 30, was accused of conspiring with self-exiled activist Nathan Law and others to ask foreign countries, bodies, or individuals outside China to impose sanctions or blockades, or engage in other hostile activities against the government. He pleaded guilty to the charge in September.
The cases of Wong and others are being closely watched by international human rights groups and some Western and Asian countries tracking the adoption of the national security law in the former British colony. In February, media tycoon Jimmy Lai, Hong Kong's most vocal China critic, was jailed for 20 years for collusion with foreign forces and sedition following a landmark trial that sparked international criticism.
Wearing a blue shirt and dark-framed glasses, with a short back-and-sides haircut, Wong, flanked by three guards, repeatedly nodded to a public gallery ahead of the sentencing. "I have never advocated Hong Kong independence, nor have I ever promoted the 'collapse of China' or regime change," Wong said during the trial's mitigation phase. "I have also never received foreign funding or spent money to hire foreign political consultants."
Wong, repeatedly detained for his role in organising pro-democracy rallies, said he later realised he had been mistaken in his belief that his activities were within the bounds of the law.
"These harsh sentences have left many Hong Kong people deeply fearful," said housewife ET Wong, one of the dozens who packed public galleries and stood outside court to support Wong. "We don’t know what actions might break the law, what we say might break the law, what we write or what we draw. We just don’t know anymore."
