Prominent Hong Kong pro-democracy activist Joshua Wong pleaded guilty on Wednesday to a charge of colluding with foreign entities. Wong, who is already serving a nearly five-year prison sentence for subversion, was due to be released next year but now faces up to life in prison.

Wong was accused of conspiring with fellow activist Nathan Law and others to ask foreign countries, institutions, organizations, or individuals to impose sanctions or engage in other hostile actions against Hong Kong or China between July and November 2020.

Wong sat in the courtroom dock as the charges were read out, before confirming his guilty plea, AFP journalists reported from inside the court. He smiled and nodded after someone in the public gallery shouted "hang in there!" Among those attending proceedings were several Western diplomats.

Wong first became widely known in Hong Kong as a teenager in 2012 when he led protests against national education being introduced in the city's schools. In 2014, he rose to fame as one of the student leaders in the city's Occupy Movement, during which demonstrators occupied streets for 79 days while calling for direct elections for Hong Kong's leader.

However, Wong's efforts to garner overseas support for protests angered Beijing, which labelled him an advocate of Hong Kong independence who had "begged for interference" from foreign forces. The political party he co-founded, Demosisto, was disbanded after the security law was enacted on June 30, 2020.

The 29-year-old was among dozens of activists arrested in 2021 for taking part in an unofficial poll to select candidates for a 2020 legislative council election. His protest efforts have effectively been outlawed by Beijing's sweeping national security law, introduced in Hong Kong in 2020, following major protests.

Critics say Wong's case illustrates the lengths to which authorities are willing to go to silence prominent dissidents.

Source: www.dw.com