Reported by NPR World
Hong Kong teenage student leader Joshua Wong, left, stands in front of yellow umbrellas outside a magistrates' court in Hong Kong, on Sept. 2, 2015. Vincent Yu/AP hide caption
HONG KONG — A Hong Kong court sentenced prominent activist Joshua Wong to 10 more years in prison Thursday under a Beijing-imposed national security law, in a case that critics say underscores the crackdown on the city's once-thriving pro-democracy movement.
Wong, 30, first led student protests as a teenager and engaged in international advocacy efforts for Hong Kong's democracy movement. He was already serving a four-year, eight-month prison term after pleading guilty in the city's biggest national security case, and had been due to be freed in January.
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But he was further charged in 2025 with conspiracy to collude with foreign forces to endanger national security, an offense under the security law imposed by Beijing in 2020.
Judge William Tam said Wong and fellow activist Nathan Law colluded with foreign officials and other foreign actors and sought measures against China and Hong Kong.
The judge pointed to the U.S. revocation of the city's preferential treatment as a special administrative region and U.S. sanctions imposed on Chinese and Hong Kong officials, saying these were the kinds of sanctions or hostile measures Wong and Law had called for.
FILE - Pro-democracy activist Joshua Wong speaks to reporters at the Legislative Council building in Hong Kong, Nov. 28, 2019. Kin Cheung/AP hide caption
"The punishment must fit the gravity of the crime committed," Tam wrote. "It is also necessary for this court to express the community's abhorrence of the defendant's scheme and acts together with others to collude with foreign forces."
The United States strongly condemned the sentencing and called for Wong's immediate release.
The U.S. Consulate in Hong Kong said in a statement that Wong has been "unjustly imprisoned" since late 2020, showing that "Beijing will go to extraordinary lengths to silence those who advocate for fundamental freedoms in Hong Kong."
Wong pleaded guilty to the offense earlier this year. Tam said he considered a 13-year prison sentence as a starting point but…