Joshua Wong, a leading figure in Hong Kong's pro-democracy protests, jailed for 10 years

Joshua Wong, a leading figure in Hong Kong's pro‑democracy movement, has been sentenced to ten years in prison by a Hong Kong court.

He first came to prominence during the 2014 Umbrella Movement and later helped launch the political party Demosisto in 2016 alongside Nathan Law and Agnes Chow, who are now living abroad. Wong has repeatedly said he is uneasy with the label of "protest leader"; he told The Financial Times in November 2019, "We have a lot of facilitators in this movement and I'm one of them... Instead of having a top-down command, we now have a bottom-up command hub."

Demosisto dissolved in 2020 after Beijing introduced the National Security Law (NSL). While Law departed for the United Kingdom, Wong remained in Hong Kong and attempted to seek a legislative seat but was barred, officials citing his opposition to the NSL. Court proceedings accumulated: on 23 November 2020 he pleaded guilty to several offences tied to protests outside the Hong Kong police headquarters in 2019, and in February 2021 he was among 47 people charged with "conspiracy to commit subversion" – a case known as the Hong Kong 47, the largest NSL prosecution to date.

He continued to serve a 56‑month sentence for the subversion conviction when later charged with collusion under the NSL. On 22 November 2020, the day before his guilty plea, Wong posted on Instagram addressed to "the people of Hong Kong": "To be honest, I have never had much faith in Hong Kong's politics, but I have every confidence in the people of Hong Kong.

Even as political power now poses a comprehensive challenge to the resilience of our civil society, I believe the people of Hong Kong will, as always, find a way to see things through."