DHAKA: A Myanmar court has sentenced five journalists to jail with hard labour for 10 years for writing that the military was making chemical weapons.

Their lawyer Wah Win Maung was quoted as saying they plan to appeal.

Yangon-based Unity Weekly News had published stories in January alleging the military had seized about 1,200 hectares in the central Magwe region.

The articles said the land was intended for a factory that would produce chemical weapons.

In January last year Myanmar, which is also known as Burma, denied accusations it had used chemical weapons against ethnic minority rebels in the northern state of Kachin, according to agencies.

Myanmar’s government has rolled out a number of political reforms including relaxing media laws and censorship.

But several journalists have also been arrested in recent months and charged with trespassing or defamation, according to Reporters Without Borders, reports the BBC.

BDST: 2150 HRS, JULY 10, 2014