AFP news reported that the latest case of Myanmar military junta’s stepping up efforts to curb dissent ahead of 2010 elections saw prominent labour advocate Su Su Nway sentenced to 12-and-a-half years in jail on Tuesday for putting up anti-government posters in the wake of the demonstrations, her lawyer Khin Htay Kywe told AFP.

Her colleague Bo Bo Win Naing, who was arrested with her in November last year, received an eight-year sentence, said the lawyer, who is also a member of detained democracy icon Aung San Suu Kyi’s party.

The military regime has promised to hold elections in 2010, the convictions were likely an attempt to stifle any dissent ahead of the polls, which critics say aim only to entrench the army’s power.

A Yangon-based diplomat told AFP on condition of anonymity that the junta “wants to give a deterrent effect by sending a signal to opponents ahead of the elections announced for 2010.”

The sentences were, however also a strong response by Myanmar to international calls for the freeing of political prisoners, the diplomat added.