It feels as if Jimmy Lai has been prosecuted more than once under Beijing’s 2020 National Security Law. But I gather that the separate National Security charges are all part of one prosecution. Why then was he in jail for half a decade before getting convicted of “foreign collusion” and being sentenced to twenty more years behind bars? That’s just how Beijing, everybody’s friend, does things.
So The Guardian is apparently correct when it reports that 30-year-old Joshua Wong “is only activist in Hong Kong prosecuted twice under national security law.” Wong, in prison on National Security Law charges since 2020, has now been sentenced to ten years for “foreign collusion.” This is his reward for having fought for Hong Kong’s liberties since he was 14 (November 5, 2026).
The Hong Kong activist Joshua Wong has been sentenced to 10 years in prison after earlier pleading guilty to “foreign collusion”, his second conviction under a national security law critics say has been used to silence political opposition in the city. [And that reporters can report has been used to silence political opposition…]
In his ruling on Thursday, the high court judge William Tam described Wong’s actions as “grave in nature”.
He said Wong had visited the US to seek foreign interference before the national security law’s introduction in 2020, and continued to share posts on social media by Law calling for sanctions after it was enacted.
Wong’s role was to “supply his underground support” and “arouse the attention of foreign countries to bolster the cause”, the judge said. He described Wong’s actions as part of a “scheme” to collude with foreign governments.
Tam said Wong’s sentence would run concurrently with the remaining term of his previous national security offence….
When protests erupted in 2019 over a proposed extradition bill, Wong was serving a prison sentence for his role in the 2014 demonstrations. He was released at the height of the protests and immediately took to the streets.
The overlapping of prison terms granted by the alleged judge isn’t a great boon for Wong. He was scheduled to be released on the previous charge in January 2027. We’re in November 2026 at the moment. Why not subtract the entirety of the six years he’s been serving for the previous bogus charge from the ten-year sentence for the later bogus charge? Or, better, subtract ten years from the ten years as well as the last few months from his current term and let him out today?
From a letter Joshua Wong wrote in prison: “The only thing I worry about is that people will forget Hong Kong, and that amid competition and struggles between great powers, they will forget the countless ordinary, unknown people in different places who have paid a price for their beliefs.”
Lai is an appealing figure. Wong is an appealing figure. This is part of their crime.
