Responding to the 10-year sentence handed to Hong Kong activist Joshua Wong for “colluding with foreign forces”, Amnesty International’s Deputy Regional Director Sarah Brooks said:
“The Hong Kong authorities’ persecution of Joshua Wong continues with this latest national security conviction, which cruelly – and perhaps deliberately – comes mere months before he would have been eligible for release under his previous conviction.
“Joshua Wong’s bravery in speaking truth to power should be commended, but instead in Hong Kong it makes him a criminal. Today’s sentence is another grim reminder of how Hong Kong’s National Security Law has become a tool to punish dissent rather than to genuinely protect national security.
“The international community should not accept the continued criminalization of legitimate activism as the new normal in Hong Kong. Governments must continue to press for the protection of human rights and the release of those imprisoned solely for exercising their rights.
“Amnesty International reiterates its call on the Hong Kong authorities to overturn Joshua Wong’s national security convictions and to repeal all legislation that violates Hong Kong’s international human rights obligations.”
Background
Joshua Wong was today sentenced to 10 years in prison after pleading guilty to conspiring to collude with foreign forces under Hong Kong’s Beijing-imposed National Security Law (NSL).
Under his second national security conviction, Wong was accused of conspiring with self-exiled activist Nathan Law and “other persons unknown” between July 2020 and November 2020 to request foreign countries or organizations to impose sanctions, blockades or engage in other hostile activities against Hong Kong or China.
The prominent activist had been sentenced in 2024, in the largest mass prosecution under the NSL to date, to four years and eight months for “conspiracy to commit subversion”. He was one of 45 opposition figures jailed due to their participation in unofficial “primaries” in 2020, on charges which UN experts considered to relate to activities protected under international human rights law.
This previous sentence is scheduled to end in January 2027.
Hong Kong’s human rights situation has deteriorated dramatically since 2020, with more than 300 people arrested for violating the NSL or a colonial-era “sedition” law. In addition, the so-called Article 23 legislation introduced by the local authorities in 2024 has further deepened repression and silenced opposition voices in the city.