Joshua Wong and other Hong Kong activists plead guilty in protests case

Activists hope case will draw global attention to arbitrary detentions under China’s new laws in Hong Kong

Hong Kong’s pro-democracy activist Joshua Wong leaves court after a hearing in September  (Getty)

Hong Kong’s pro-democracy activist Joshua Wong and two other campaigners have pleaded guilty to charges of unlawful assembly and now face immediate imprisonment, a development which they described on Monday as among the “least ridiculous” in the former British colony in recent times.  

On Monday, Mr Wong, Ivan Lam and Agnes Chow appeared in court after which they said that they have decided to plead guilty. Their offence relates to June 2019 protests during which they are accused of organising and leading an unauthorised assembly.  

The trio have been remanded in custody until a sentencing hearing in December, after several high profile pro-democracy activists have fled the city in recent months.

Mr Wong, Mr Lam and Ms Chow had initially feared they could face life sentences, something that is now a possibility under the strict new national security laws imposed by Beijing. But that now appears unlikely, with the charge they have pleaded guilty to carrying a maximum penalty of five years.

“It would not be surprising if I'm sent to immediate detention today. It is the least ridiculous outcome among others that happened recently in Hong Kong,” said Mr Wong, in a statement on Monday before his remand.

“In the past three weeks, a total of 23 activists, journalists and councillors came under arrest. Every day, we have activists standing in trials, protestors sent to jail. My case is relatively a mild one, when the movement was still in the early stage.”  

China has taken several measures including a new national security law to tighten its control over Hong Kong, a former British colony which came under Chinese rule in 1997 on the promise of a high degree of autonomy.  

The new security law mandates strict action against anyone involved in any activity that undermines the authority of the Chinese government or seeks foreign interference. Many fear the new law means a serious clampdown on democratic rights and freedom enjoyed by the people of Hong Kong but not those on the mainland.

Mr Wong, 24, has been a prominent face of protest in Hong Kong since 2014 and has been in prison for several short sentences.  

He said the authorities most likely want him to “stay in prison one term after another” but “neither prison bars, nor election ban, nor any other arbitrary powers” would stop them from “activism”.  

“What we are doing now is to explain the value of freedom to the world, through our compassion to whom we love, so much that we are willing to sacrifice the freedom of our own.”

He noted that this case would draw the world's attention to the “arbitrary power of the criminal justice system whose impartiality is crippled by Beijing's undue influence and systemic violence in greater detail.”

On 11 November, Hong Kong’s pro-democracy opposition legislators resigned en masse in protest against the decision of the standing committee of the National People’s Congress (NPCSC) that ousted four prominent members of the pro-democracy camp for failing to show sufficient patriotism towards mainland China.

Ms Chow, who was arrested under the new security law in August 2020 but let out on bail, wrote on Facebook before the Monday court appearance that even though she is “mentally prepared” she is still scared but would do her “best to face it bravely.”

“If I am sentenced to prison this time, it will be the first time in my life that I have been in jail. However, compared to many friends, I have suffered very little,” she wrote.