Joshua Wong Gets 10 Years in Hong Kong Foreign Collusion Case
(MENAFN) A Hong Kong court on Thursday jailed activist Joshua Wong Chi-fung for 10 years after he pleaded guilty to conspiracy to collude with “foreign forces.”
Wong is already behind bars for conspiracy to commit subversion. He entered his guilty plea in this second case in September.
A Hong Kong newspaper reported that he was sentenced for “his role in a global campaign to instigate sanctions against mainland China and the city in the aftermath of the 2019 anti-government protests,” according to the report.
The court found that Wong conspired with fugitive former lawmaker Nathan Law Kwun-chung and other activists to “collude with foreign forces after Beijing imposed the national security law on Hong Kong on June 30, 2020.”
The new term will run concurrently with his earlier sentence, which expires on Jan. 7. The ruling nonetheless pushes Wong’s expected release date back to late 2036, the newspaper said.
Justice William Tam Yiu-ho ruled that Wong and his associates “exploited their connections with top overseas officials and institutions to promote foreign interference on social media and through prominent news agencies in the West.”
“The sanctions and hostile acts advocated by the activists could lead to highly detrimental and adverse consequences to Hong Kong and mainland China,” the judge said.
The ruling comes after Hong Kong was rocked by anti-government protests in 2019. China imposed a national security law in 2020 on the semi-autonomous region.
Wong is already behind bars for conspiracy to commit subversion. He entered his guilty plea in this second case in September.
A Hong Kong newspaper reported that he was sentenced for “his role in a global campaign to instigate sanctions against mainland China and the city in the aftermath of the 2019 anti-government protests,” according to the report.
The court found that Wong conspired with fugitive former lawmaker Nathan Law Kwun-chung and other activists to “collude with foreign forces after Beijing imposed the national security law on Hong Kong on June 30, 2020.”
The new term will run concurrently with his earlier sentence, which expires on Jan. 7. The ruling nonetheless pushes Wong’s expected release date back to late 2036, the newspaper said.
Justice William Tam Yiu-ho ruled that Wong and his associates “exploited their connections with top overseas officials and institutions to promote foreign interference on social media and through prominent news agencies in the West.”
“The sanctions and hostile acts advocated by the activists could lead to highly detrimental and adverse consequences to Hong Kong and mainland China,” the judge said.
The ruling comes after Hong Kong was rocked by anti-government protests in 2019. China imposed a national security law in 2020 on the semi-autonomous region.
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