Joshua Wong turned 30. He spent more than half of his twenties behind bars. From a 14-year-old student activist to one of Hong Kong’s most prominent pro-democracy voices, Joshua’s story traces the dismantling of Hong Kong’s freedoms.
At 14, Joshua helped organize students against a government-backed “national education” curriculum. At 17, he pushed for genuine universal suffrage. At 18, he became one of the most recognizable faces of the Umbrella Movement. He kept turning to the mechanisms available to him: peaceful protest, civil society, political organizing, and elections. One by one, those avenues closed.
Since Nov. 23, 2020, Joshua has remained behind bars. He was later prosecuted alongside 46 other pro-democracy figures in the landmark “Hong Kong 47” case and sentenced to 4 years and 8 months. Then, while he was still imprisoned, authorities arrested him again in June 2025 for alleged “collusion with foreign forces.” He pleaded guilty in September 2026 and now awaits sentencing.
When Joshua was first imprisoned, he noted that more than 20 political prisoners were already behind bars in Hong Kong. Today, he is one of nearly 2,000 prisoners of conscience in the city. Read Joshua Wong’s story and how his life has unfolded alongside Hong Kong’s descent into authoritarianism.
