Hong Kong —
Joshua Wong, the former teenage activist who became a key leader of Hong Kong’s democracy movement, faces the prospect of many more years in prison after he pleaded guilty on Wednesday to the latest national security case brought by prosecutors.
Wong, now 29, was accused of conspiring with fellow activists to invite foreign sanctions against China and Hong Kong in 2020 – the year Beijing introduced a national security law which critics say put political freedoms in the city into deep freeze.
Wong is already in prison, serving a sentence of 4 years and 8 months, after pleading guilty in a landmark subversion trial in 2024. He was due for release in January. His latest case was heard Wednesday at Hong Kong’s High Court, where sentences of up to life can be imposed.
Wong and fellow pro-democracy activists have previously been labeled “separatists” by Beijing officials, who imposed the sweeping national security law after huge and sometimes violent pro-democracy protests convulsed the international financial hub in 2019.
