Hong Kong pro-democracy activist Joshua Wong spends his 30th birthday in prison

(Rights Defense Network Information Center report) October 13, 2026 — This outlet has learned that today, prominent Hong Kong pro-democracy activist Joshua Wong is spending his 30th birthday in prison. He has been continuously detained since November 23, 2020, for a total of 2,150 days to date. In 2021, he was sentenced to 10 months in prison for taking part in a candlelight vigil at Victoria Park commemorating June 4.

In 2024, he was sentenced to 4 years and 8 months in the “Hong Kong 47” case. In September 2026, he pleaded guilty to another national security offence, “conspiracy to collude with foreign forces to endanger national security,” and is still awaiting sentencing.

Joshua Wong’s profile: Born October 13, 1996; English name Joshua Wong Chi-fung; Christian; Chinese (Hong Kong) national and British national; pro-democracy figure with no party affiliation; named one of Time magazine’s 25 Most Influential Teens of 2014; leader of the “Umbrella Movement”; convenor of the Hong Kong student movement Scholarism; secretary-general of Demosistō; political prisoner in China.

From a young age, he took part in church activities with his parents, volunteered, and enthusiastically served the community in public affairs. In 2014, he was studying at the Open University of Hong Kong, and graduated from the university with excellent results in October 2020. On May 29, 2011, he and his secondary-school classmate Lam Long-yin founded the student organization “Scholarism.” He organized student marches, rallies and other events on many occasions to oppose the Hong Kong government’s use of moral and national education to indoctrinate students with support for the Chinese Communist Party, thereby attracting widespread attention from all sectors of society.

On July 15, 2012, he was invited to appear on City Forum to debate the national education issue with other guests. His strong performance won widespread public praise and became the spark that set off the movement against “brainwashing education” across Hong Kong.

On September 26, 2014, he was arrested by police for taking part in the Umbrella Movement and leading students in a “Occupy Central with Love and Peace” class boycott rally. He was later released on bail.

On April 10, 2016, he founded Demosistō with Lam Long-yin and others, advocated Hong Kong autonomy, did not advocate Hong Kong independence, and at the same time stated, “If there is no democracy and autonomy, Hong Kong independence is the only choice.” As a result, he became “someone who does not suit Beijing.”

On August 17, 2017, he was arrested again over the retaking of Civic Square and sentenced by the Hong Kong High Court to six months in prison for “unlawful assembly.”

On January 17, 2018, he was also sentenced by a court to three months in prison for “criminal contempt of court.”

He appealed the sentence, and on May 16, 2019, it was reduced to two months. After his release, he joined the “anti-extradition bill” movement, calling on the government to explicitly withdraw the extradition bill amendment and to retract its erroneous characterization of the June 9 march of one million people as a riot. He also said that Carrie Lam was no longer qualified to serve as Chief Executive because she had caused Hong Kong people to bleed. This made the Hong Kong government and the Chinese Communist Party authorities even more uneasy.

On August 13, 2019, with a large-scale gathering and protest at Hong Kong International Airport imminent, he livestreamed on Facebook and called for the number of people taking part in the march to exceed one million, among other things. Police then took him away from the street on August 30, and prosecutors accused him of “inciting others to take part in an unauthorized assembly,” among other offences.

On September 8, 2019, he was detained by police on the charge of “breaching bail conditions” as he was preparing to travel to Germany to discuss the situation in Hong Kong. On October 29 of the same year, after registering as a candidate for the District Council election, he was deprived of the right to stand for election by Beijing’s “hard order.”

On June 30, 2020, after China’s National People’s Congress passed the Hong Kong National Security Law, he was forced to announce his resignation as secretary-general of Demosistō and leave the organization, stating that he would put his beliefs into practice in his personal capacity going forward. In June 2019, over the case involving the siege of the Hong Kong Police Headquarters, he, Agnes Chow and Lam Long-yin were detained by police again. Although they were temporarily released on bail during that period, he was later remanded in custody again.

On November 23, 2020, the case against the three was heard at the West Kowloon Magistrates’ Courts on three charges: “inciting others to take part in an unauthorized assembly,” “organizing an unauthorized assembly,” and “knowingly taking part in an unauthorized assembly.” They were sentenced separately on December 2 of the same year; he received a sentence of 13 and a half months. He had previously been sentenced to four months in prison over the Causeway Bay unlawful assembly case on October 5. In 2021, he was again sentenced to 10 months in prison by the Hong Kong District Court over the “unauthorized assembly” case concerning the “June 4” candlelight vigil. On appeal, this was reduced to eight months, and the sentences from the two cases were served consecutively.

In March 2022, after completing his prison sentence, he was accused over his earlier participation in the 2020 Legislative Council primary election, with the allegation that his conduct violated the “subversion of state power” offence under the Hong Kong National Security Law. He therefore remained in Stanley Prison awaiting trial. On April 17, 2023, after being accused of “disclosing the personal information of police officers,” he was sentenced by the Hong Kong High Court to three months in prison for “contempt of court.”

On November 19, 2024, when all defendants in the 47-person subversion case were sentenced together at the West Kowloon Magistrates’ Courts, he was sentenced to 4 years and 8 months in prison for “conspiracy to commit subversion.”

In September 2026, he pleaded guilty to another national security offence, “conspiracy to collude with foreign forces to endanger national security,” and is still awaiting sentencing. He is currently serving his sentence at Stanley Prison in Hong Kong.

This outlet will continue to follow Joshua Wong’s situation.