HONG KONG: Hong Kong authorities once again arrested prominent activist Joshua Wong on Friday and charged him with conspiracy to collude with a foreign country under a Beijing-imposed national security law.
Wong, 28, was originally set to be released in January 2027 from a 56-month jail sentence he is serving under the same law for conspiracy to commit subversion after he participated in an unofficial primary election.
Taken to the West Kowloon magistrates’ courts, Wong faced a new charge of conspiracy to collude with a foreign country or with external elements to endanger national security.
The former student pro-democracy activist, who wore a blue shirt and appeared noticeably thinner than before, replied, “Understand,” when the clerk read out the charge and details of the offense.
Wong did not apply for bail, and the case was adjourned to August 8. Before returning to custody, he waved, shrugged, and shook his head in the direction of the public gallery.
In a statement, Hong Kong’s national security police said they had arrested a 28-year-old man on suspicion of the offense, as well as for “dealing with property known or believed to represent proceeds of an indictable offense.”
A charge sheet seen by Reuters accuses Wong of having conspired with exiled activist Nathan Law and others to ask foreign countries, institutions, organizations, or individuals outside China to impose sanctions or blockades.
Such actions against Hong Kong or China, along with other hostile activities targeting them, took place in 2020, between July 1 and November 23, it added.
The National Security Law, which punishes offenses such as acts of subversion, collusion with foreign forces, and terrorism, with terms of up to life in jail, was imposed by Beijing on the former British colony in 2020.
The Chinese and Hong Kong governments say the law is necessary to restore stability following anti-government protests in 2019.
But some Western governments have criticized it as being used to suppress free speech and dissent.
Hong Kong activist Joshua Wong faces second charge under national security law
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Hong Kong activist Joshua Wong faces second charge under national security law
- Activist Wong faced a new charge of conspiracy to collude with a foreign country or with external elements to endanger national security
Archbishop of York says he was ‘intimidated’ by Israeli militias during West Bank visit
- “We were … intimidated by Israeli militias who told us that we couldn’t visit Palestinian families in the occupied West Bank,” the archbishop said
LONDON: The Archbishop of York has revealed that he felt “intimidated” by Israeli militias during a visit to the Holy Land this year.
“We were stopped at various checkpoints and intimidated by Israeli militias who told us that we couldn’t visit Palestinian families in the occupied West Bank,” the Rev. Stephen Cottrell told his Christmas Day congregation at York Minster.
The archbishop added: “We have become — and really, I can think of no other way of putting it — we have become fearful of each other, and especially fearful of strangers, or just people who aren’t quite like us.
“We don’t seem to be able to see ourselves in them, and therefore we spurn our common humanity.”
He recounted how YMCA charity representatives in Bethlehem, who work with persecuted Palestinian communities in the West Bank, gave him an olive wood Nativity scene carving.
The carving depicted a “large gray wall” blocking the three kings from getting to the stable to see Mary, Joseph and Jesus, he said.
He said it was sobering for him to see the wall in real life during his visit.
He continued: “But this Christmas morning here in York, as well as thinking about the walls that divide and separate the Holy Land, I’m also thinking of all the walls and barriers we erect across the whole of the world and, perhaps most alarming, the ones we build around ourselves, the ones we construct in our hearts and minds, and of how our fearful shielding of ourselves from strangers — the strangers we encounter in the homeless on our streets, refugees seeking asylum, young people starved of opportunity and growing up without hope for the future — means that we are in danger of failing to welcome Christ when he comes.”
