Two journalists who led a pro-democracy newspaper in Hong Kong have been found guilty of sedition.

Chung Pui-kuen and Patrick Lam, two editors at the now-defunct Stand News media outlet, could now face a maximum jail term of two years.

This is the first sedition case against journalists in Hong Kong since the territory’s handover from Britain to China in 1997.

Rights groups have condemned the verdict, with Reporters without Borders calling on Hong Kong to “stop its nefarious campaign against press freedom”.

In a written statement, district court judge Kwok Wai-kin said that Stand News had become a “danger to national security”.

Their newspaper’s editorial line supported “Hong Kong local autonomy”, he added.

“It even became a tool to smear and vilify the Central Authorities [in Beijing] and the [Hong Kong] SAR Government,” he said in a written judgement.

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).

They are due to be sentenced later on in September.

Stand News was among a handful of relatively new online news portals that especially gained prominence during the 2019 pro-democracy protests.

But since the introduction of the NSL in 2020, a host of media outlets have closed in Hong Kong.

Critics says the law effectively reduces Hong Kong’s judicial autonomy and made it easier to punish demonstrators and activists.

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 the publication’s office.

Seven employees 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 both 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.

On Thursday, their Asia-Pacific director called the judgement an “appalling verdict [that] sets a very dangerous precedent for journalists”.

“From now on, anyone reporting on facts that are not in line with the authorities’ official narrative could be sentenced for sedition,” said Cédric Alviani in a statement.

“We renew our call on Hong Kong’s authorities to end the continued judicial harassment against two journalists and stop its nefarious campaign against press freedom.”