Hong Kong activist Joshua Wong set for September sentencing in second national security case

HONG KONG (AP) — Hong Kong democracy activist Joshua Wong is scheduled to be sentenced in September in a case brought under a Beijing-imposed national security law that critics say has stifled the city’s pro-democracy movement.

Wong, a former student leader in the pro-democracy movement, was arrested in June 2025 on suspicion of conspiracy to collude with foreign forces to endanger national security. It was the second time Wong was charged under the national security law introduced in Hong Kong in 2020, following massive anti-government protests that rocked the city the year before.

The judiciary's website on Tuesday showed a hearing for plea and sentence is planned for Wong on Sept. 2. It's expected to take one day.

Wong was accused of conspiring with fellow activist Nathan Law and others to ask foreign countries or institutions, organizations or individuals outside of China to impose sanctions, blockades or engage in other hostile actions against Hong Kong or China between July 1 and Nov. 23, 2020.

The offense is punishable by a prison term of three to 10 years, or up to life imprisonment if it is deemed to be “of a grave nature.”

In 2024, Wong pleaded guilty in a separate national security case linked to an unofficial primary election and was sentenced to four years and eight months.

Wong rose to prominence in Hong Kong in 2012 as a high school student leading protests against the introduction of national education in the city’s schools. Later, he became internationally famous as a leader of the 2014 Occupy Movement.

In 2016, Wong co-founded a political party named Demosisto with fellow young activists, including Law. In the 2019 pro-democracy movement, Wong helped seek overseas support for the protests. His activism led Beijing to label him an advocate of Hong Kong independence who “begged for interference” by foreign forces.

Demosisto disbanded when Beijing imposed the security law in 2020, which authorities say has brought back stability to the city.

Hong Kong authorities have also offered rewards of 1 million Hong Kong dollars ($127,600) for information leading to the arrests of Law, who moved to Britain, and other overseas-based activists.

Last month, a London court sentenced a former U.K. border official and a retired Hong Kong police officer to prison for spying on dissidents and critics of Beijing in Britain. Their targets included Law, according to the prosecutors.