HONG KONG, China (AFP) — Two former chief editors of a now-shuttered media outlet in Hong Kong went on trial Monday for publishing "seditious" content, the latest prosecution of journalists in the business hub.

Sedition, a once little-used hangover from the British colonial period, has been embraced by prosecutors alongside a new national security law as China cracks down on dissent after democracy protests three years ago.

Chung Pui-kuen, 52, and Patrick Lam, 34, were jointly charged alongside Stand News' parent company Best Pencil Limited, of "conspiracy to publish and reproduce seditious publications."

The two journalists, who have been detained for the last 10 months, have pleaded not guilty and face up to two years in jail if convicted.

Stand News was a popular online news portal that provided detailed and often sympathetic coverage of Hong Kong's democracy protests and the clampdown that followed.