A South African judge on Friday handed down jail terms of 19 and 16 years to two white farmers who filmed themselves forcing a black man into a coffin and threatening to kill him.

"The conduct of the accused was most dehumanising and disgusting," said judge Segopotje Mphahlele, sentencing the pair at a High Court sitting in Middelburg, 165 kilometres (100 miles) east of Johannesburg.