Myanmar activist lawyer gets 4-yr jail sentence

Myanmar's junta has sentenced a lawyer to four years in prison for defending labour activists who blew the whistle on army seizures of farmland this year, a colleague said on Friday.

Pho Phyu, who was arrested in January and charged under the Illegal Association Act, was sentenced by a special court in central Myanmar a few days ago, fellow activist lawyer Aung Thein told Reuters.

Pho Phyu, in his early thirties, is among a handful of lawyers who have defended opposition and labour dissidents in the former Burma, under military rule since 1962. He was arrested on Jan. 15 while defending four activists detained for reporting the seizure of farmland by army units in Magwe Division to the International Labour Organization (ILO).

"They are arresting defence lawyers on one pretext or another. These are attempts to intimidate and silence us," said Aung Thein, who was recently freed after four months in jail. Pho Phyu is the fourth activist lawyer to be jailed as part of a wider crackdown on pro-democracy dissidents ahead of the junta's promised general elections in 2010. Aung Thein and Khin Maung Shein, both in their 60s, were freed on March 7 after serving sentences of four to six months for contempt of court.

Nyi Nyi Htwe, 27, remains in jail.

According to the Thailand-based Assisting Association for Political Prisoner (Burma), there are a total of 2,128 prisoners of conscience in Myanmar.

The U.N. human rights envoy to Myanmar, Tomas Ojea Quintana, called on Tuesday for the immediate release of all political prisoners and urged the military to stop using civilians in forced labour.

Authorities should also conduct an impartial review of the detention of opposition leader and Nobel laureate Aung San Suu Kyi, whose latest detention began in May 2003, Quintana said.

Myanmar's government insists these individuals are not political prisoners but are guilty of breaking the country's laws.

YANGON, March 20 (Reuters)