Geneva - Five United Nations experts condemned Tuesday what they said were "severe convictions and the unfair trials" of prisoners accused of involvement in last year's anti-government protests in Myanmar.

Last week, a dozen detainees were each given 65-year prison sentences and more than 20 others, including five monks, received 24-year imprisonment terms, the experts said in a statement, noting that others still awaited sentencing.

A popular blogger, arrested several months after the protests were quelled, was also sentenced to over 20 years in jail.

Dhaka  - The maritime boundary talks between Bangladesh and Myanmar ended Monday with the two sides agreeing only to hold further talks to resolve their demarcation dispute, officials said.

"The issue was a complex one and the two sides agreed to continue their talks on the subject, with the next round of negotiations taking place in Myanmar," Bangladesh's foreign affairs adviser Iftekhar Ahmed Chowdhury told the media after talks with visiting Myanmar Deputy Foreign Minister U Maung Myint.

Maung led an 11-member Myanmar delegation at the two-day technical consultation to discuss the maritime boundary disputes, which flared over Myanmar's reported exploration for oil and gas in the Bay of Bengal earlier this month.

Dhaka - Bangladesh and Myanmar began talks Sunday on the demarcation of their maritime border, which caused tension earlier this month between the neighbours over off-shore hydrocarbon exploration.

Bangladesh's additional Foreign Secretary MAK Mahmud and Myanmar deputy minister Maung Myit lead their respective delegations at the talks in progress in Bangladesh capital.

The dialogue will come against the backdrop of movement of warships in the Bay of Bengal by both the countries after Myanmar's alleged intrusion into Bangladesh's territorial waters for oil and gas exploration.

The two nations met earlier in April 2008 to discuss the maritime demarcation issues after a break of more than two decades.

Yangon - Prominent Myanmar dissident Min Ko Naing and eight other student activists have been sentenced to 65 years in prison in an ongoing judicial crackdown on opposition to the ruling junta, witnesses said Saturday.

The Special Court of Maubin, a town in the Irrawaddy Division about 95 kilometres southwest of Yangon, sentenced Min Ko Naing, Ko Ko Gyi, Mya Aye, Pyone Cho, Aung Thu, Htay Kywe, Nyan Lin, Myo Aung Naing and Hla Myo Naung to 65 years imprisonment each, witnesses who attended the court verdicts said.

Berlin - Germany condemned Wednesday the sentencing of 14 activists in Myanmar to lengthy prison terms, calling the verdict "politically motivated."

A foreign ministry spokesman said the reason given by the court in handing down the verdict was "totally unacceptable" as were the "very long" prison sentences of 65 years.

The spokesman said the military rulers of Myanmar were sending "the wrong signals" and called for the release of all political prisoners in the country.

Yangon  - US president-elect Barack Obama is expected to take a more multilateral and "effective" approach to Myanmar's transition to democracy than the outgoing administration of President George Bush, a prominent dissident said Wednesday.

Win Tin, formerly Myanmar's longest-serving political prisoner and an executive member of the opposition National League for Democracy (NLD) party, said he expected Obama to maintain support of Myanmar's democracy movement as was demonstrated by his fellow Democrat former president Bill Clinton.