A Hong Kong judge on Thursday jailed a former chief editor of pro-democracy news outlet Stand News for sedition, handing down a 21-month prison term in the landmark case.
The sentencing of Chung Pui-kuen is the latest crackdown on free speech in the former British colony that has seen critics of China jailed or forced into exile, following huge pro-democracy protests in 2019.
The 55-year-old and fellow chief editor Patrick Lam, 36, were in charge of Stand News, a Chinese-language website that gained a massive following during the protests, before it was raided and shut down in December 2021.
Last month, district court judge Kwok Wai-kin found the pair guilty of "conspiracy to publish and reproduce seditious publications". Stand News' parent company, Best Pencil Limited, was also found guilty.
The judge on Thursday handed out a 21-month sentence to Chung, making him the first journalist to be jailed for sedition since Hong Kong came under Chinese rule in 1997.
Lam received a sentence reduction and will not return to jail, owing to time already served, with Kwok saying a prison term "could endanger his life" due to serious health issues.
He added that the two defendants, as well as the publication, were "not doing genuine journalistic work".
"They were taking part in the so-called resistance. They stood on the side of the protesters to oppose the government," he said.
"Stand News had 1.6 million followers and these seditious articles must have caused quite serious damage, even though I couldn't quantify it," Kwok said, adding that prison was the only option.
- International criticism -
Before the sentencing, defense lawyer Audrey Eu argued for leniency for Lam as he had been suffering from a "very rare and complicated" immune condition which left him with "less than 30 percent" of kidney function.
"Our largest concern is that if (Lam) has to return to prison, in case anything happens there... that may put his life in danger," Eu told the court.
Chung and Lam had each spent nearly a year behind bars before they were granted bail at the time of their trial.
The duo were charged under a colonial-era law, which punishes sedition with a maximum jail term of two years.
A security law enacted in March raised that to seven years.
The conviction of Stand News editors in August drew swift global outcry, with the United States denouncing it as "a direct attack on media freedom".
The European Union called on Hong Kong to "stop prosecuting journalists".
Chinese authorities in Hong Kong rejected the criticism, saying that Stand News was "a political organization through and through".
The Chinese finance hub has seen its standing in global press freedom rankings plummet in recent years.