Five speech therapists convicted of conspiring to publish seditious children's books were on Saturday sentenced to 19-month prison terms.

Passing sentence, District Judge Kwok Wai-kin said the three picture books in question could sow seeds of unrest in children's minds, noting that they had hidden from readers the fact that the central government had sovereignty over the SAR.

The court earlier ruled that the books – which characterised Hong Kong as a village of sheep and the mainland as the home of wolves – had spread separatist sentiment and incited hatred against the authorities.

Kwok deducted two months from a 21-month sentence for each defendant after considering that they had no previous criminal records, among other factors.

The five, who were then executive committee members of the General Union of Hong Kong Speech Therapists, have been remanded in custody for over a year and as such are expected to be released in around a month’s time.

During mitigation, one of the defendants, Lai Man-ling, was stopped by the judge when she started talking about the definition of free speech and whether there were limits to it. He said political statements should not be made during mitigation, and added that she was entitled to file an appeal if she was dissatisfied with the ruling.