Four Journalists Sentenced To 10 Years Hard Labour In Burma

Days after a stern warning to the media by Burma's President Thein Sein, four journalists and the head of a local publication have been sentenced to 10 years hard labour for disclosing state secrets.  

The guilty verdicts, which were immediately decried by rights groups, come after months of increasing government pressure, which has led to seemingly arbitrary arrests, deportations, and the dispatching of "secret police" to investigate the financial status of local newspapers.  

The sentencing of the journalists was handed down by a court in response to a 25th January article about an alleged chemical weapons factory in the area.

The five men have been in prison since early February when they were charged with publishing state secrets and trespassing under Article 3 of Burma Secret Act of 1923.

Source:  BBC