CPB is gutted to learn that Nay Phone Latt, has been sentenced to 20 years and six months in prison by the Burmese authorities. He was convicted of contravening a public law act by posting a cartoon of the head of the Burmese military junta on his blog. His colleague, Thin July Kyaw, was sentenced to two years imprisonment while two weeks ago three defence lawyers were sentenced to between four to six months in prison.

In September 2007 during the uprising, Nay Phone Latt’s blogs provided the world with information about what was going on in Burma as there was a dearth of information due a blackout of news coming out of the country by the military junta.

At the moment the courts are jam packed with activists being tried daily in processes that do not even come close to being mistaken for justice.

H/T to irrawady for informing us.

Burma-based bloggers followed every turn of news in the streets and provided traditional news organizations with information and media they would not otherwise have had.

When the crackdown began last week, and those bloggers’ access was blocked, like Niknayman , or hijacked and deleted, like Sone Se Yar, external Burmese news sites such as Mizzima and Irrawaddy, as well as exile bloggers like Ko-Htike continued to post news and photos gotten from citizens inside via email, cell phone calls and text messages.

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