Sources within the National League for Democracy in Burma say that two of the party's members have each been sentenced to fourteen years imprisonment for distributing leaflets published by a separatist group.

They say the members, Aung Thein and Hla Myint, handed out statements by the Shan State Army SSAat a meeting of the NLD in Rangoon at the home of the party's leader, Aung San Suu Kyi, in March.

The SSA advocates a separate homeland in north-eastern Burma for members of the country's ethnic Shan population.