Burma journos jailed over chem weapons report

Myanmar jailed five journalists to 10 years in prison with hard labour yesterday over a report accusing the military of producing chemical weapons, a sentence denounced by campaigners as "outrageously harsh".
The reporters for the Unity Weekly News were convicted by a court in central Magway region under the former junta-run country's official secrets act, amid concerns that Myanmar is backsliding on press freedoms.
The article alleged that the country's military was operating a chemical weapons factory in the town of Pauk in Magway, under the instructions of former strongman junta chief Than Shwe.
The jailed men were arrested in February just days after the article was published.
Reporters Without Borders described the verdict as "very worrying for press freedom" in Myanmar.