Yangon  - Two lawyers representing defendants from the opposition National League for Democracy (NLD) party have been arrested and sentenced to four months in jail on contempt of court charges, family sources said Saturday.

Lawyers Aung Thein and Khin Maung were arrested late Friday night and sent to Insein prison where they face four months in jail, Aung Thein's family members confirmed.

Both lawyers had represented nine student activists linked to the NLD, the opposition party headed by Aung San Suu Kyi, who has been under house arrest since May
2003.

On Wednesday Aung Thein and Khin Maung were charged with contempt of the Supreme Court for allowing their clients to criticize court procedures last month.

The lawyers presented their defence on Thursday but the court reportedly ruled against them on Friday, sentencing the two attorneys to four months in jail.

Their NLD clients, arrested last year for involvement in anti-government protests in August 2007, had expressed "no confidence in the court" last month, leading to their prison terms being extended by six months.

Myanmar has been under military rule since 1962. The judiciary is not deemed independent of the executive body, but has rarely sentenced lawyers to prison.

The arrests come at a time when Suu Kyi is known to be preparing a legal case against the junta for extending her detention by more than five years, the maximum period allowed under Myanmar's current laws.

Suu Kyi was arrested in May 2003, on charges of threatening national security by leading her followers on a provincial tour that was interrupted by pro-government thugs who killed several NLD members and left Suu Kyi, a Nobel Peace Prize laureate, slightly injured. (dpa)