Joshua Wong, Agnes Chow and Ivan Lam Are Sentenced in Hong Kong - The New York Times

Activists denounced the prison terms for illegal assembly charges over a 2019 demonstration outside Police Headquarters.

HONG KONG — Joshua Wong, a prominent pro-democracy activist in Hong Kong, was sentenced on Wednesday to more than a year in prison for his role in a protest last year, the latest blow to the city’s embattled political opposition.

Wong was sentenced to 13 and a half months in prison, while Agnes Chow, a fellow activist, received 10 months.

Ivan Lam, a third member of their disbanded political group, Demosisto, was sentenced to seven months.

Their sentencing points to the wide-ranging nature of Beijing’s increasingly aggressive crackdown on political opposition in Hong Kong, which was roiled by months of antigovernment demonstrations last year.

Wong, who had been released from prison only days before the demonstration, was not as involved in organizing the protests as he had been in previous campaigns.

Claudia Mo, a former lawmaker in Hong Kong from the pro-democracy camp, called the sentences “very saddening, but not unexpected.”.

“They’re using Joshua Wong as an iconic figure in particular to issue this chilling message.”.

Wong also faces charges over a demonstration in October of last year and his participation in a June 4 memorial for the people killed in China’s 1989 crackdown on the Tiananmen Square protests in Beijing.

Wong was sentenced to three months in prison for contempt over the court-ordered dismantling of a protest camp in November 2014.

“I understand that I will probably be sentenced to prison on Wednesday, so my morale has been low, and I’ve been very worried,” she was quoted as saying.

The activists’ supporters said they worried that the three could face more prison time on additional charges.

“Sentences could pile up,” Nathan Law, a Hong Kong activist who now lives in London, wrote on Twitter.