Two media rights groups have condemned a Burmese appeals court decision to uphold the three-year prison sentences of two journalists for filming and photographing the country's new capital, Pyinmana.
Reporters Without Borders and the Burma Media Association issued a statement Tuesday calling for the immediate release of the journalists, Thaung Sein and Ko Moe Htun.
The statement says a Burmese appellate court in the Mandalay region issued its ruling last week without hearing any witnesses.
The two journalists were sentenced in March after they were found guilty of violating a Burmese law prohibiting photographing or filming Pyinmana.
Paris-Based Reporters Without Borders has said the long sentences the two men received reflect the paranoia of Burma's military government.
The Burmese government has not commented.