Hong Kong activist Joshua Wong expected to plead guilty in foreign-collusion trial

Joshua Wong, one of the most recognisable faces of Hong Kong's defeated democracy movement, is expected to plead guilty on Sept. 2 in a national security case that could send him to prison for life.

Wong, 29, faces charges under a law Beijing imposed on Hong Kong in 2025. He is accused of asking foreign countries, individuals and institutions in 2020 to impose sanctions or a blockade, or to engage in other hostile activities against Hong Kong and China. Prosecutors also accuse him of conspiring with self-exiled activist Nathan Law and others to urge foreign entities to disrupt the creation and implementation of laws or policies in Hong Kong and China.

The High Court has scheduled a plea and sentencing hearing for Sept. 2, according to the judiciary's website. Wong is already serving a nearly five-year sentence for subversion and had been due for release in 2026. Rights groups say the new charges are intended to keep him behind bars for as long as possible.

Wong rose to prominence as a teenage leader of the 2014 Umbrella Movement protests. He later took part in the large, sometimes violent pro-democracy demonstrations in 2019, which preceded the national security law. He founded the Demosisto party with Law and Agnes Chow. The party advocated self-determination for Hong Kong and disbanded after Beijing passed the security law.

Wong previously wrote on Facebook: "I will continue to defend my home, Hong Kong, until they silence me and eliminate me from this land."

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I will continue to defend my home, Hong Kong, until they silence me and eliminate me from this land.