Yangon — A Myanmar court has handed down a 13-year jail term to a journalist for working for exiled media, his legal counsel said Friday, as the ruling junta continues its crackdown on dissent.Ngwe Soe Lin was sentenced Wednesday after being arrested for working for the Myanmar exile broadcaster Democratic Voice of Burma, based in Norwegian capital Oslo, lawyer Aung Thein told AFP.

“Ngwe Soe Lin was sentenced to 13 years in prison on Wednesday at a special court in Insein prison,” Aung Thein said.

There was no immediate confirmation of the sentence from authorities in Myanmar, formerly known as Burma, which remains under tight US and EU sanctions because of its human rights records.

Aung Thein added that Ngwe Soe Lin would appeal the ruling, which sentenced him to 10 years in jail for violation of the country’s Electronics Act and another three years under the Immigration Emergency Provisions Act.

Aye Chan Naing, the head of Democratic Voice of Burma, told AFP that he believed the junta was attempting to seize greater control over media ahead of national elections planned for later this year.

“It has to be seen in connection with the upcoming election. The regime wants to impose even stricter rules against the freedom of expression and information,” Aye Chan Naing said.

“They are arresting one journalist after the other. This was not the case before. They have arrested journalists in the past but not that frequently,” he added.

A Myanmar court in December handed 25-year-old freelance video reporter Hla Hla Win a 20-year jail term on similar charges after it ruled she had worked for the Democratic Voice of Burma.

Analysts said convicting journalists of working for exiled media was part of a continued crackdown on those involved in anti-junta protests led by Buddhist monks in September 2007.

Myanmar has handed heavy jail terms to scores of activists, monks, student leaders and journalists for their alleged roles in the protests and for helping victims of Cyclone Nargis in May 2008.

Myanmar has been ruled by the military since 1962, and its tightly controlled state media often accuses foreign news organisations of stirring trouble within the country.

An election this year would be the country’s first since 1990. Pro-democracy icon Aung San Suu Kyi’s party won the last ballot by a landslide but was never permitted to take office.

The military regime has defied persistent international appeals by keeping Aung San Suu Kyi under house arrest for most of the past two decades.