Hong Kong activist Joshua Wong sentenced to four months in prison for 2019 protest
Joshua Wong, one of Hong Kong’s leading democracy activist was sentenced to four months in jail on Tuesday for unauthorized assembly and violating an anti-mask law. 47 other individuals were also charged under national security law.
Wong, 24, had pleaded guilty to both charges, for being a part in and using a facial covering at an unauthorized assembly in October 2019 during the height of anti-government protests, the court heard.
He had endured a maximum possible sentence of three years in jail. The sentence will expand to a 13-and-a-half-month sentence as he is already serving for organizing an illegal assembly.
Wong thanked his supporters. Some of them chanted, “I miss you” and “Hang in there.” Wong was called an “iconic figure” by magistrate Daniel Tang.
In October 2019, Hong Kong leader Carrie Lam summoned colonial-era emergency powers for the first time in more than 50 years to pass a regulation banning face masks, which was used by many pro-democracy protesters to hide their identities from authorities.
The law made it illegal to wear a mask at both lawful and unlawful assemblies. Offenders faced a maximum of one year in jail and a HK$25,000 fine.
Wong was among 47 democrats charged with conspiracy to engage in subversion in late February under the city’s national security law for running in an unofficial primary election in July last year.
He is at present serving a 13-and-a-half-month sentence for organizing and inciting an unlawful assembly close to the city’s police headquarters in June 2019.