'Unjust and cruel': Rights groups condemn 10-year prison sentence for Hong Kong activist

Hong Kong: Leading human rights organisations on Thursday condemned the 10-year sentence handed to Hong Kong activist Joshua Wong, terming it as a grim reminder of how Hong Kong’s National Security Law has become a tool to punish dissent rather than to genuinely protect national security.

"The Hong Kong authorities’ persecution of Joshua Wong continues with this latest national security conviction, which cruelly – and perhaps deliberately – comes mere months before he would have been eligible for release under his previous conviction. Joshua Wong’s bravery in speaking truth to power should be commended, but instead in Hong Kong it makes him a criminal. Today’s sentence is another grim reminder of how Hong Kong’s National Security Law has become a tool to punish dissent rather than to genuinely protect national security," said Amnesty International’s Deputy Regional Director Sarah Brooks.

She urged the international community not to accept the continued criminalisation of legitimate activism as the new normal in Hong Kong and urged governments across the world to press for the protection of human rights and the release of those imprisoned solely for exercising their rights.

Brooks urged the Hong Kong authorities to overturn Wong’s national security convictions and to repeal all legislation that violates Hong Kong’s international human rights obligations.

Meanwhile, US-based advocacy group Human Rights Watch (HRW) also on Thursday urged the Hong Kong government to immediately and unconditionally release Wong, terming the sentence handed down to him by the Hong Kong High Court as "cruel and unjust."

It urged the international community to denounce the sentences against him and other wrongfully detained pro-democracy activists and impose targeted sanctions on officials responsible for Hong Kong’s growing repression.

Asia Director at Human Rights Watch, Elaine Pearson, said: "The harsh sentence on baseless charges against Joshua Wong is cruel and unjust." She stated, "Young people promoting social change are an asset for any vibrant society, but the Hong Kong government puts them behind bars."

The statement of human rights groups come after the Hong Kong High Court on Thursday sentenced Joshua Wong, a well-known democracy activist, to 10 years in prison after pleading guilty to conspiring to collude with foreign forces under Hong Kong’s China-imposed National Security Law (NSL).

Under his second national security conviction, Wong was accused of conspiring with self-exiled activist Nathan Law and “other persons unknown" between July 2020 and November 2020 to request foreign countries or organisations to impose sanctions, blockades or engage in other hostile activities against Hong Kong or China, according to an Amnesty International statement.

Wong was sentenced to four years and eight months in 2024 for “conspiracy to commit subversion. He was one of 45 opposition figures kept in prison for participation in unofficial 'primaries' in 2020, on charges which UN experts considered to relate to activities protected under international human rights law. His previous sentence is scheduled to end in January next year.

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