Activist Joshua Wong asks lesser sentence in Hong Kong's security case

Prominent activist Joshua Wong asked for a lesser sentence in court on Friday after he earlier pleaded guilty in Hong Kong's biggest national security case.

Wong was one of 47 activists charged in 2021 under a Beijing-imposed national security law with conspiracy to commit subversion for their involvement in an unofficial primary. The activists were accused of attempting to paralyse Hong Kong's government and topple the city's leader by aiming to win a legislative majority and using it to block city budgets indiscriminately.

Wong and 44 others admitted their liability or were convicted by the court. They could be sentenced to life in prison, though those who pleaded guilty have a better chance of receiving shorter sentences. Their mass prosecution dealt a severe blow to the city's once-thriving pro-democracy movement.

Wong waved at the public gallery after he walked into the courtroom. Former Democratic Party chair Wu Chi-wai, former pro-democracy lawmaker Jeremy Tam and activist Ta