Hong Kong activist Joshua Wong pleads guilty in national security case

What the report says

Hong Kong pro-democracy activist Joshua Wong pleaded guilty on Wednesday in a second national security case brought under Beijing’s law, according to Al Jazeera’s reporting from AFP and Reuters. The 29-year-old entered the plea at Hong Kong’s High Court in Admiralty to a charge of foreign collusion, an offence that could carry a sentence ranging from several years to life imprisonment if a court considers it especially serious.

Prosecutors say Wong asked foreign governments to impose sanctions or other hostile measures against China and Hong Kong in 2020, after the national security law took effect. They also said he wrote for media outlets and met foreign political figures, including former US House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and current US Secretary of State Marco Rubio, to press for international pressure. Wong responded “Confirm” when the charge was read out, and the judge said sentencing would be set as soon as possible.

Wong is already serving a nearly five-year prison term for subversion and had been due for release next year. He became one of the best-known faces of Hong Kong’s democracy movement during the 2014 Umbrella Movement and later co-founded Demosisto, which disbanded in 2020 when the security law was enacted. His case comes amid a broader crackdown on Hong Kong activists, including recent convictions of others linked to Tiananmen vigil organizing.