‘Truly reflective of his offence’: Police welcome 10-year prison sentence for activist Joshua Wong amid int’l outcry

The National Security Department of the Hong Kong Police Force has welcomed the 10-year prison sentence handed to Joshua Wong, saying that it was a “proper sentence” to reflect the offence committed.

Police officers outside the High Court after Joshua Wong’s sentencing on November 5, 2026. Photo: Kyle Lam/HKFP.

Steve Li, chief superintendent of the National Security Department of the Hong Kong Police Force, told reporters on Thursday outside the High Court that he hoped the activist would gain a proper understanding of China and become a law-abiding person after serving his sentence.

Wong, who has been behind bars since late 2020, was sentenced to another 10 years in jail on Thursday after he pleaded guilty to conspiring to collude with foreign forces in September.

Wong was accused of conspiring with self-exiled activist Nathan Law and other unnamed individuals in 2020 to request that foreign countries impose sanctions and blockades against the governments of Hong Kong and mainland China.

Acitivist Joshua Wong testified before Congressional-Executive Commission on China on September 17, 2019. Photo: C-SPAN screenshot.

Judge William Tam said on Thursday that the case was of a “grave nature” under the Beijing-imposed national security law, which warrants at least 10 years’ imprisonment and a maximum of life imprisonment.

When asked by HKFP whether authorities would appeal to seek a heavier sentence, Li said: “[The sentence] is truly reflective of his offence committed during the period, of the grave nature of the offence. Of course, I have to discuss with DOJ [Department of Justice] colleagues whether we will [appeal], but personally I think it is a proper sentence to him.”

In a statement sent by Wong from prison and obtained by HKFP, Wong said a national security police officer told him that they were “enemies.” When asked whether authorities considered Wong an enemy, Li said that was not his perspective.

Chief Superintendent Steve Li of the police’s National Security Department speaks to the press after Joshua Wong’s sentencing at the High Court on November 5, 2026. Photo: Kyle Lam/HKFP.

“I personally won’t regard him as an enemy. He is an offender. And as police officers, we need to do the things to rectify the situation and to reinforce the law,” Li said.

In a statement on Thursday, Chief Executive John Lee described Wong, Law and their affiliates as “among the primary culprits responsible for undermining Hong Kong’s prosperity and stability.”

‘A tool to punish dissent’

Wong is currently serving a four-year, eight-month jail term for conspiracy to subvert state power in the landmark “Hong Kong 47” case, in which 45 prominent pro-democracy campaigners were convicted and sentenced to up to 10 years in jail in 2024.

Judge Tam ordered that the new 10-year prison term run concurrently with the remaining two months and two days of his existing sentence.

The 30-year-old activist is due to be released in November 2036, when he will be 40.

Police officers outside the High Court after Joshua Wong’s sentencing on November 5, 2026. Photo: Kyle Lam/HKFP.

In a statement released on Thursday, Amnesty International said that the Hong Kong authorities had made a young man who spoke truth to power a criminal.

Sarah Brooks, deputy regional director of the human rights organisation, said that the sentence “cruelly – and perhaps deliberately – comes mere months before he would have been eligible for release under his previous conviction.”

“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… Amnesty International reiterates its call on the Hong Kong authorities to overturn Joshua Wong’s national security convictions and to repeal all legislation that violates Hong Kong’s international human rights obligations,” the statement reads.

‘Properly understand’ China

Having first emerged in the public eye as an opponent of a government-proposed national education scheme, Wong formed the student activist group Scholarism in 2011. He quickly rose to prominence as a youth activist, later becoming a key student leader during the 2014 Umbrella Movement.

Nathan Law. Photo: Tom Grundy/HKFP.

In 2016, Wong co-founded the political party Demosisto with Nathan Law, who ran in the legislative election representing the party and was elected as the city’s youngest lawmaker.

Li said on Thursday that Law, who now resides in the United Kingdom, should hand himself in to the Hong Kong police as soon as possible.

The national security police chief also said that Wong had committed various offences since he began participating in social movements.

Former Scholarism activists Louis Lee and Tiffany Chin at the High Court after Joshua Wong’s sentencing on November 5, 2026. Photo: Kyle Lam/HKFP.

“He started taking part in the social movement whilst he was a youngster, and has committed various offences since his adulthood, including his offence under the national security laws, and the organising and inciting unlawful assembly, and also the contempt of law in various occasions.”

“I sincerely hope that for the rest of his time in the prison, apart from reflecting on the wrongdoings he has done to the country and to the HKSAR, he must seize opportunities, to learn how to respect the law and to properly understand his own country.”