Prominent student leader Min Ko Naing and eight of his '88 generation student' colleagues have been sentenced to 65 years of imprisonment by a special court in Maupin prison in Burma's Irrawaddy Division, friends and family members said.

The student leaders, who were arrested in August 2007 for peacefully marching the streets of Rangoon in protest against rising fuel prices, were reportedly sent back to Insein prison after the sentencing.

The nine students, including Min Ko Naing, Ko Ko Gyi and Htay Kywe, were transferred to Maupin prison earlier this month after a court in Insein prison sentenced them to six month prison terms on charges of contempt of court.