A Hong Kong court sentenced a former editor of a shuttered news publication to 21 months in prison on Thursday in a sedition case that is widely seen as an indicator of media freedom in the city, once hailed as a beacon of press freedom in Asia. A second editor was freed after his sentence was reduced because of ill health and time already served in custody.

Former Stand News editor-in-chief Chung Pui-kuen and former acting editor-in-chief Patrick Lam are the first journalists convicted under a colonial-era sedition law since the former British colony returned to Chinese rule in 1997. Chung was sentenced to 21 months, while Lam was allowed to go free.

The news outlet was one of the last in Hong Kong that dared to criticize authorities as Beijing imposed a crackdown on dissidents following massive pro-democracy protests in 2019.

Last month, the court found Chung and Lam, along with Best Pencil (Hong Kong) Ltd., Stand News' holding company, guilty of conspiracy to publish and reproduce seditious material. For a first offence, the maximum penalty is two years in prison and a fine of 5,000 Hong Kong dollars (about $640).