YANGON - MYANMAR'S most famous comedian and two other men who were all arrested after delivering aid to cyclone victims have had their prison sentences extended, a family member said on Friday.

Zarganar, who was also involved in anti-junta protests last year, had on Nov 21 been sentenced to 45 years in prison, but that was extended by 14 years on Thursday, his sister Ma Nyein told AFP.

'I was allowed to meet him today. He is in good condition. The total imprisonment he got after charges was 59 years,' she said.

'I am very surprised. We will appeal for him. We have nothing to say and do not want to blame anyone.'

She said Zarganar, 49, had his sentence extended after being found guilty of four more charges including disrespecting the government, illegal assembly, defaming religion and violating the video act.

Sports writer Zaw Thet Htwe, who was arrested alongside Zarganar in June after organising aid deliveries to victims of Cyclone Nargis, had his sentence increased by four years and will now serve 19 years in jail, Ma Nyein said.

She said that another man, Thant Zin Aung, who had also helped get supplies to the survivors of the May 2 and 3 cyclone, was on Thursday sentenced to an extra three years bringing his total jail term to 18 years.

Cyclone Nargis left at least 138,000 people dead or missing when it ripped through southwest Myanmar.

More than 160 people have been jailed by the military-ruled courts over the past month for various reasons, with more than 20 student activists handed maximum terms of 65 years for their part in Buddhist monk-led protests last year.

Paris-based media watchdog Reporters Without Borders on Friday condemned the extension of the trio's sentences.

'It is unthinkable that these people should receive such harsh prison sentences for having assisted the victims of a natural disaster and bearing witness to their suffering,' it said in a statement. -- AFP