Arya News - Pro-democracy activist faces life sentence in second case under Beijing’s national security law.
Prominent Hong Kong democracy activist Joshua Wong has pleaded guilty to a charge of foreign collusion in a second national security case that could see him jailed for life.
Wong, 29, entered the plea at Hong Kong’s High Court in the district of Admiralty on Wednesday.
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The offence 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”.
Wong is already serving a nearly five-year sentence for subversion and was due to be released next year.
Hong Kong student leader Joshua Wong, left, stands in front of yellow umbrellas outside a magistrates court in Hong Kong [File: Vincent Yu/AP Photo] He emerged as one of the most internationally recognised faces of Hong Kong’s pro-democracy movement during the Umbrella Movement protests in 2014. The movement served as a catalyst for the 2019 protests that led to Beijing’s imposition of the national security law.
Wong also co-founded Demosisto, a pro-democracy political party that launched in 2016. The party disbanded in 2020 on the same day the national security law was enacted.
Prosecutors said on Wednesday that Wong had written for newspapers and spoken to media outlets to call for international sanctions against China and Hong Kong after the security law took effect, and met with foreign politicians including former US House of Representatives Speaker Nancy Pelosi and current Secretary of State Marco Rubio.
After the charges were read out to him, Wong stood up and told the judge loudly, “Confirm”. The judge said the sentence will be decided “as soon as possible” but did not specify a date.
Several Western diplomats attended the hearing.
Wong’s case comes after two other activists were found guilty of inciting subversion last month after they used the phrase “end one-party dictatorship” in their political activities.
Lee Cheuk-yan, 69, and Chow Hang-tung, 41, were part of a group known for organising annual vigils marking Beijing’s 1989 Tiananmen Square massacre of pro-democracy protesters.