HONG KONG (AP) — A Hong Kong court is set to hand down a sentence to prominent pro-democracy activist Joshua Wong Thursday for his second conviction under a Beijing-imposed 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.
Critics say Wong’s case reflected the authorities’ determination to keep prominent dissidents behind bars, chilling civic activism. But 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.
He rose to fame as a teenager after leading protests in 2012 against the introduction of national education in the city's schools. Mounting pressure eventually forced the government to shelve its plans.
Two years later, Wong became a poster boy of the 2014 Umbrella Movement, during which protesters used umbrellas to fend off police pepper spray. During the protests, demonstrators occupied major roads for 79 days in an ultimately unsuccessful push for the direct election of the city’s leader.
Two years later, Wong co-founded a political party, “Demosisto,” with fellow young activists, including former student leader Nathan Law, who became the city's youngest lawmaker the same year. The party's name combines the Greek word “Demos," which means people, and the Latin word “Sistō,” which carries the meaning of standing, Law then said.
But Demosisto disbanded when the security law took effect in 2020. While Law left for the U.K., Wong stayed in Hong Kong.
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. Observers say that pleading guilty was a way to get a lighter sentence.
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.”
Despite Wong being in prison, he remains a politically sensitive figure.
Less than two weeks after the September hearing, a report by pro-Beijing newspaper Wen Wei Po criticized a 2017 documentary about Wong on Netflix for “beautifying” his crimes, saying its trailer, available for nonsubscribers, was seditious.
Soon after the city’s security bureau told local media the government was taking follow-up action, the documentary “Joshua: Teenager vs. Superpower” shot to the top of Netflix’s popular chart in Hong Kong.
Eric Lai, a research fellow at Georgetown Center for Asian Law, said the procedure in Wong's case was “disturbing.” He said Wong's second national security case provided a way to keep him from public view.
“It reveals that the Hong Kong government is eager to weaponize criminal prosecution against political dissent to ensure they will not be released from jail shortly,” he said.
A conviction on the collusion charge carries a sentence ranging from three years to life in prison.
After Wong was charged in 2025, the government maintained that its law enforcement agencies' actions were based on evidence and strictly in accordance with the law, and that they have nothing to do with one's political stance.
It said the city's judiciary exercises its power independently and those charged with a criminal offense will receive a fair trial.
