28-year-old activist Joshua Wong faces new charges under Hong Kong’s national security law that could significantly extend his time in prison. Wong was sentenced last November, alongside 45 other pro-democracy figures, to four years and eight months in prison for conspiracy to commit subversion after he helped organize an unofficial primary election in July 2020. He is currently due for release in early 2027. On Friday, he was summoned to court for a three-minute hearing to officially receive the new charges of conspiracy to collude with foreign forces, as Kelly Ho reported for the Hong Kong Free Press:

Wong stands accused of conspiring with self-exiled activist Nathan Law and “other persons unknown” between July 1 and November 23, 2020, to request foreign countries, organisations, or individuals based overseas to impose sanctions, blockades or engage in other hostile activities against Hong Kong or China, according to the charge sheet seen by HKFP.

He also allegedly conspired to request foreign powers or organisations to “seriously disrupt the formulation and implementation of laws and policies” in Hong Kong and China, “which was likely to cause serious consequences,” the charge sheet said.

[…] Wong was only asked to confirm that he understood the charge, the reports said. He did not apply for bail.

The offence carries a maximum penalty of life behind bars.

Wong was arrested in Stanley Prison by the police’s national security department on Friday before being brought to court. He was also arrested on suspicion of money laundering, according to a police statement on Friday, but has not been charged for that. [Source]

Hong Kong activists and human rights figures condemned the government’s decision to bring new charges against Wong. Yaqiu Wang, the former research director for China at Freedom House, stated: “The piling of charges on Joshua Wong only reveals how insecure the CCP regime is, how fearful it feels about the true sentiment of the people: their yearning for democracy.” Researcher Brian Kern wrote, “This new charge appears to be designed to keep him in prison for good. Its timing, only two days after June 4, is significant and signals the Chinese Communist Party’s confidence that it can get away with whatever it wants in Hong Kong these days.” Human rights lawyer Samuel Bickett stated, “There is no rule of law left in Hong Kong. The only hope for Joshua and other high-profile political prisoners lies in sustained Western pressure—both consequences and dangled incentives. Now is the time to speak out.” Helen Davidson from The Guardian shared other reactions from human rights organizations:

Human Rights Watch’s associate China director, Maya Wong, called the new charges against Wong “arbitrary, cruel and outrageous”.

“While imprisoned under one trumped-up charge, Joshua Wong has been suddenly slapped with yet another as the authorities appear intent on keeping one of Hong Kong’s most influential democracy leaders behind bars,” she said.

[…] “Hong Kong’s national security law is turning five years old at the end of the month, and these new charges against Joshua Wong show that its capacity to be used by the Hong Kong authorities to threaten human rights in the city is as potent and present as ever,” said [Amnesty International’s] China director, Sarah Brooks.

“Once again, the vague and sweeping offence of ‘collusion with foreign forces’ is being weaponised to justify an attack on the freedoms of expression and association.

“This latest charge against him underscores the authorities’ fear of prominent dissidents and shows the lengths they will go to keep them behind bars for as long as possible – in so doing, continuing a chilling effect on civic activism in the city.” [Source]

Wong has long been a target of the Chinese government’s propaganda and censorship. His name was among the sensitive terms blocked on Weibo searches in September 2014, at the beginning of Hong Kong’s Umbrella Movement, in which Wong emerged as a leading figure. In August 2016, the Supreme People’s Procuratorate, China’s top prosecution body, released a nationalistic video on Weibo warning of the threat of “foreign forces,” and Wong was featured twice in the video. In January 2019, Chinese government authorities issued censorship instructions ordering the media not to report, republish, or comment on Wong’s nomination for the 2018 Nobel Peace Prize alongside other leaders of Hong Kong’s 2014 democracy movement.

In addition to his current prison sentence for subversion, Wong has faced a number of other charges and jail time related to national security. These were given on the basis of participating in a peaceful Tiananmen Vigil in Victoria Park in 2020, delivering a speech to crowds outside police headquarters denouncing the government’s categorization of peaceful protests the week prior as a “riot” in 2019, and violating a controversial emergency ban on mask wearing in 2019. Wong has spent over 1,600 days in custody since November 2020.

Many Hongkongers in the diaspora scheduled events this week to mark the sixth anniversary of the start of Hong Kong’s 2019 pro-democracy movement. Some events aim specifically to highlight the repression against Wong:

Victoria is using its event marking the 6th anniversary of the 2019 mass protests in #HongKong to condemn the recent arrest-in-prison of #PoliticalPrisoner Joshua Wong. pic.twitter.com/E906o05fdK

— Hong Kong Democracy Council (@hkdc_us) June 9, 2025