Based on reporting by Local 10

Wire reporting: (AP, via Local 10)

Hong Kong activist Joshua Wong is scheduled to be sentenced Thursday after pleading guilty to a second charge under a Beijing-imposed national security law, The Associated Press reported, via Local 10¹.

Wong, 30, was charged in 2025 with conspiracy to collude with foreign forces to endanger national security and pleaded guilty in September, facing a possible term of three years to life, the AP said¹.

He is already serving four years and eight months in the city's largest national security case tied to an unofficial primary; before the collusion charge, he had been expected to be released in January 2027, the AP said¹.

Judge William Tam is due to impose the penalty Thursday morning, and members of the public queued outside the court as early as Tuesday, the AP said¹.

Prosecutors alleged Wong and Nathan Law agreed around 2016 to lobby abroad for democratic self-determination and that Wong later backed overseas calls for sanctions from Hong Kong via media and social platforms, according to the AP account of the case¹.

Hong Kong authorities say the security law is needed for stability after 2019 protests and that enforcement is evidence-based, the AP reported; Beijing views Wong as supporting independence, a red line for the Chinese government¹.

Eric Lai, a research fellow at Georgetown Center for Asian Law, told the AP that national-security charges can be repeatedly used to keep a specific political prisoner in jail if the government deems it necessary¹.

Defense lawyer Derek Chan urged a sentence that would leave Wong some hope of caring for his parents after release, the AP said¹.