The High Court of Hong Kong has imposed this Thursday a sentence of ten years in prison on the well-known pro-democracy activist Joshua Wong, after he was found guilty of conspiring to act in connivance with foreign forces under the National Security Law enacted by Beijing.
Judge William Tam described the facts attributed to Wong as having “serious characteristics,” and had initially set a sentence of 13 years, which he has ultimately reduced to a decade due to the rapid admission of guilt by the opposition figure, according to information published by the local newspaper Hong Kong Free Press.
The ruling establishes that this new sentence is to be served concurrently with the two months he still had left to serve of his previous sentence of four years and eight months in the subversion case known as “Hong Kong 47.” With this decision, the activist, who has been imprisoned without interruption since November 2020, will predictably remain behind bars until 2036, when he will be 40 years old.
In the resolution, the judge cites Wong and the exiled opposition leader Nathan Law as “ringleaders” and “intelecutal instruments” of a structure created in 2020 to pressure foreign governments, including the United States, with the aim of having them adopt sanctions and restrictions against the authorities of Hong Kong and mainland China following the wave of protests that began in 2019. According to the ruling, this international offensive “aggravated” the political crisis and social discontent in the Chinese special administrative region.
The conviction against Wong adds to other proceedings driven under the National Security Law, approved by Beijing in June 2020, under which prominent figures from the opposition of the former British colony have been tried, such as media tycoon Jimmy Lai, sentenced last February to 20 years in prison.