Jan 26, 2009 (DVB), Labour activist Zaw Htay, who helped farmers file a report to the International Labour Organisation on land seizure in Magwe’s Nat Mauk township, was sentenced to 10 years' imprisonment by Magwe court on Friday.

A Magwe resident who attended Zaw Htway’s trial said judges had concluded he was guilty of leaking sensitive national information by taking photographs of the land seized by the army for the report to the ILO.

His co-defendant Hla Soe, a resident of Nat Mauk, was acquitted after he agreed to testify as a government witness.

About 50 farmers in Nat Mauk last year filed a report to the ILO on the confiscation of over 5000 acre of farmland in villages around the town by the army.

Reporting by Aye Nai