A Hong Kong court on Thursday handed prominent pro-democracy activist Joshua Wong an additional 10-year prison term under the national security law imposed by Beijing, a ruling critics say reflects the sweeping crackdown on the city's once-vibrant democracy movement.

Wong, 30, rose to prominence as a teenage leader of student protests and later campaigned internationally for Hong Kong's democracy movement. He was already serving a sentence of four years and eight months after pleading guilty in the city's largest national security case, and had been scheduled for release in January.

Collusion charge under 2020 security law

In 2025, Wong was hit with a new charge of conspiracy to collude with foreign forces to endanger national security, an offense created by the 2020 security law. He pleaded guilty earlier this year.

Judge William Tam found that Wong and fellow activist Nathan Law worked with foreign officials and other overseas actors to seek measures against China and Hong Kong. The judge cited Washington's revocation of Hong Kong's preferential treatment as a special administrative region, along with U.S. sanctions on Chinese and Hong Kong officials, as examples of the hostile steps the two had sought.

"The punishment must fit the gravity of the crime committed," Tam wrote, adding that the court also needed to convey the community's strong condemnation of the collusion.

Tam said he began with a 13-year starting point before reducing the term in light of Wong's guilty plea and mitigating factors. The remaining two months of Wong's first national security sentence will run concurrently with the new term.

U.S. condemns the sentence

The United States sharply criticized the ruling and called for Wong's immediate release. In a statement, the U.S. Consulate in Hong Kong said Wong had been unjustly held since late 2020 and that the case showed how far Beijing is willing to go to silence advocates for fundamental freedoms in the city.

Supporters fill the courtroom

Wong, dressed in a dark shirt at the High Court, nodded to supporters and pro-democracy activists in the public gallery before the hearing began. He remained composed as the judge delivered the sentencing remarks and thanked supporters as he was led out.

Seating was limited, and dozens of people lined up outside the court for a place in the gallery, some arriving as early as Tuesday, with attendees taking turns inside. Tiffany Chin, a former member of Scholarism, the now-disbanded student group Wong once led, was in tears after the sentence was announced. A resident named ET Wong said the activist had taken a hard road for Hong Kong's future, human rights and the student movement, and should never have been imprisoned.

Wong's statement

In a statement written from prison, Wong said he had believed he was acting lawfully and was not directly calling for sanctions when he shared other people's social media posts or urged foreign companies to consider ending business with the Hong Kong police. He said he later came to see that his judgment had been wrong.