The World Association of Newspapers and News Publishers (WAN-IFRA) and the World Editors Forum have condemned the sentencing of two Burmese journalists to long prison terms and called on the country's military junta to immediately release them and end its continuing attacks on the media.

"We are seriously concerned that the crackdown on sending reports, photos and videos abroad that began in 2007 is intensifying in the run-up to this year's elections," said the global press organisations in a letter to General Than Shwe, Chairman of the Burmese State Peace and Development Council, as the ruling junta is known.

"Around 20 journalists and bloggers have been arrested since then and at least 14 are currently in jail, most of them in very harsh conditions," said the letter. "Under current law, anyone who uses the internet to send information abroad faces prosecution."

Burmese journalist Ngwe Soe Lin was sentenced to 13 years in prison on 28 January for providing reports to the Democratic Voice of Burma (DVB), a broadcaster based in Norway.

Mr Lins case follows the sentencing late last year of Hla Hla Win, another alleged DVB reporter, to 20 years in jail for sending reports abroad, and another seven years for using an "illegally" acquired motorcycle.

The full letter can be read at http://www.wan-press.org/article18389.html

More WAN-IFRA press freedom protests can be found at http://www.wan-press.org/pfreedom/rubriques.php?id=304

WAN-IFRA, based in Paris, France, and Darmstadt, Germany, with subsidiaries in Singapore, India, Spain, France and Sweden, is the global organisation of the worlds newspapers and news publishers. It represents more than 18,000 publications, 15,000 online sites and over 3,000 companies in more than 120 countries. The organisation was created by the merger of the World Association of Newspapers and IFRA, the research and service organisation for the news publishing industry.

Learn more about WAN-IFRA at http://www.wan-ifra.org or through the WAN-IFRA Magazine at http://www.wan-ifra.org/magazine