The activists, including several women, were sentenced during a closed-door hearing at the notorious Insein prison on the northern outskirts of the military-ruled country's commercial hub of Yangon.

'Altogether 23 activists were sentenced today at Insein prison. They were sentenced to 65 years each,' the family member told AFP on condition of anonymity.

The group included prominent activist Nilar Thein and her husband, Jimmy, the relative said. According to Amnesty International Nilar Thein had to abandon her baby daughter after going into hiding following the initial protests in August 2007.

A leading member of a group which led a failed uprising against the junta in Myanmar in 1988, Mie Mie or Thin Thin Aye, was also among them, the relative said.

A spokesman for the opposition party of detained democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi confirmed that at least 14 activists were sentenced to 65 years.

He also confirmed the sentencing of Nilar Thein, her husband and Mie Mie.

'Sentencing these student activists with many years imprisonment for showing their desire shows the lack of human rights in Myanmar,' spokesman Nyan Win of the National League for Democracy (NLD) told AFP.

In neighbouring Thailand, a group that defends political prisoners in Myanmar said that 14 of those sentenced were members of the so-called '88 Generation.'

The term applies to students who led the uprising 20 years ago. It was crushed by the military with the loss of an estimated 3,000 lives and many of the leaders served years in jail after those demonstrations.

'The sentence was handed down at around 1.00 pm, behind closed doors in Insein prison special court. Family members were not allowed to attend the hearing,' the Assistance Association for Political Prisoners (Burma) said in a statement.

The military regime changed the country's name from Burma to Myanmar in 1989.

Some '88 Generation' members including Nilar Thein started new demonstrations in Yangon in Aug 2007 after the authorities abruptly hiked fuel prices. Dozens of them were arrested.

The following month, Buddhist monks took up the leadership of the protests, which were again subject to a brutal crackdown. According to the United Nations, 31 people were killed.

The sentences come a day after a prominent Myanmar blogger arrested after the anti-junta protests last year was jailed for 20 years while a poet was given two years behind bars. -- AFP