Hong Kong activist Joshua Wong due to be sentenced on foreign collusion charge

Wong, now 30 years old, was among a group of young people whose protest efforts have effectively been outlawed by sweeping security legislation that Beijing imposed on Hong Kong in 2020. He is accused of conspiring with exiled activist Nathan Law and others to ask foreign countries, institutions, organizations or individuals outside China to impose sanctions or blockades, or engage in other hostile activities, against Hong Kong or China. The alleged conspiracy took place between July 1 and November 23, 2020.

Wong is already in jail serving a sentence on an earlier national security charge of conspiracy to commit subversion after he was among a group of pro-democratic activists who participated in an unofficial primary election in 2020. That sentence was due to end in 2027. The 2020 primary was an unofficial vote aimed at picking the pro-democracy camp's strongest candidates and helping it secure a majority in Hong Kong's legislature. Prosecutors accused the activists of plotting to use control of the legislature to block government budgets and ultimately force the city's leader to resign, a strategy that authorities said amounted to subversion.