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The Uyghur Human Rights Project (UHRP) has strongly condemned the sentencing of Hong Kong pro-democracy activist Joshua Wong to an additional 10 years in prison under Beijings national security law, calling for his immediate and unconditional release.
According to a report issued by UHRP, Wong, a prominent pro-democracy activist, was sentenced on November 5, 2026, on charges of conspiring to collude with foreign forces. The organisation described the charges as baseless and said the latest sentence would keep Wong behind bars until the age of 40. Wong, now 30, first came to prominence as a student leader during Hong Kongs 2014 Umbrella Movement and later co-founded the pro-democracy political party Demosist. He has been imprisoned since 2020 and was previously expected to be released in January 2027. However, the latest sentencing has extended his imprisonment by another decade. Condemning the development, UHRP Executive Director Omer Kanat said the sentencing demonstrated the Chinese government's intolerance of dissent and its continued use of national security laws to silence pro-democracy voices. Kanat said Beijing had weaponised the concept of national security to suppress those advocating democracy in Hong Kong, drawing parallels with its use of similar justifications for the arbitrary arrest, detention, imprisonment and enforced disappearance of Uyghurs. The UHRP report further stated that since imposing the national security law on Hong Kong in 2020, the Chinese government has suppressed protest movements, forced activists into exile and systematically dismantled fundamental freedoms, including freedom of speech and assembly. It described Wong's latest sentencing, his second prosecution under the national security law, as a further violation of the rights and freedoms guaranteed under the Sino-British Joint Declaration and the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR). The organisation also welcomed statements from the United States, the United Kingdom, the European Union and other governments condemning Wong's sentence, urging the international community to maintain pressure on Beijing for his release. UHRP further called on US President Donald Trump to make Wong's release, alongside that of all political prisoners, a priority during his upcoming meetings with Chinese President Xi Jinping. Highlighting Wong's concerns about the future of Hong Kong, the organisation referred to a recent letter he wrote from prison to a friend, in which he said, "The only thing I worry about is that people will forget Hong Kong." The UHRP stressed that the international community must ensure that Wong, the people of Hong Kong and others imprisoned for exercising their fundamental freedoms are not forgotten. (ANI)
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