A Hong Kong court is set to sentence two senior journalists Thursday in a landmark sedition case that is widely seen as an indicator of media freedom in a city once known as a beacon of press freedom in Asia.

Stand News former 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.