A Hong Kong Court has jailed two journalists who led a pro-democracy newspaper after they were found guilty in a landmark sedition case last month.
Chung Pui-kuen and Patrick Lam, editors at the now-defunct Stand News media outlet, had published articles about the crackdown on civil liberties in the city under China.
Chung was sentenced to 21 months, while Lam was given 11 months, but was released on medical grounds. The publisher behind Stand News – Best Pencil – has been fined HK$5,000 (US$643; £480).
It is the first sedition case against journalists in Hong Kong since the territory’s handover from Britain to China in 1997.
After a lengthy trial, which began in October 2022 and was originally scheduled to last just 20 days, district court judge Kwok Wai-kin Kwok found that 11 articles published by Stand News were seditious and that Stand News had become a “danger to national security”.
Their newspaper’s editorial line supported “Hong Kong local autonomy”, Mr Kwok said in a written statement.
“It even became a tool to smear and vilify the Central Authorities [in Beijing] and the [Hong Kong] SAR Government,” he added.
Both journalists were charged under a colonial-era sedition law – which until recently had been rarely used by prosecutors – rather than the controversial national security law (NSL).
Stand News was among a handful of relatively new online news portals that especially gained prominence during the 2019 pro-democracy protests.
Rights groups have condemned the sentencing. Reporters Without Borders told the BBC it is “yet another nail in the coffin for press freedom in Hong Kong”.
Since the introduction of the NSL in 2020, a host of media outlets have closed in Hong Kong.
Critics say the law effectively reduces the city’s once-prized judicial autonomy, making it easier to punish demonstrators and activists. China defends it as necessary for maintaining stability.
Stand News was among the last openly pro-democratic publications until its closure in December 2021, when more than 200 police officers were sent to raid its office.
Seven employees were arrested and accused of a “conspiracy to publish seditious publications”, which included interviews with pro-democracy activists.
Hong Kong’s current chief executive John Lee supported the police operation at the time, calling those arrested the “evil elements that damage press freedom”.
The case has drawn international scrutiny and condemnation from western countries.
The United States has repeatedly condemned the prosecutions of journalists in Hong Kong, saying that the case against the two editors “creates a chilling effect on others in the press and media”.
The former British colony has seen its standing in press freedom rankings plummet from 18th place to 135th over the past two decades, according to the World Press Freedom Index compiled by Reporters Without Borders.
Their Asia-based Advocacy Manager Aleksandra Bielakowska told the BBC that the Hong Kong judiciary has become “a political tool, used to threaten those who dare to speak independently”.
“Like in China, the regime is trying to create its own narratives, and make sure that all reporters will only be ‘telling Hong Kong’s story well’,” she said.
“Deliberately targeting independent media and its journalists has left a huge void in Hong Kong’s media landscape that will be very difficult to rebuild,” she added.
