YANGON (AFP)- A MYANMAR court has handed down a 13-year jail term to a man accused of working with exiled media, his legal counsel said on 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 Oslo, Norway, 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.

'We cannot confirm whether he worked as a journalist for Democratic Voice of Burma. But that is what he was accused of,' said Aung Thein, who continues to act as a legal adviser in Myanmar after being disbarred by the ruling junta last year.

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 that 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.

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