New Zealander Philip Blackwood has been jailed for more than two years with hard labour, after being found guilty of insulting religion in Myanmar by using an image of the Buddha to promote the bar he managed.

Blackwood, 32, formerly of Wellington, and his two Myanmar co-accused were given the same verdicts and sentences when they appeared in a Yangon court today.

The V Gastro bar used an image of the Buddha wearing headphones in an online poster to promote a cheap drinks night.

The poster, which appeared last year on the Facebook page of the newly opened Yangon bar, sparked outrage on social media in the predominantly Buddhist country.

Bar general manager Blackwood, bar owner Tun Thurein, 40, and manager Htut Ko Ko Lwin, 26, were arrested and charged with breaching the Religion Act.

Agence France-Presse reports that the three men were sentenced to two years for insulting religion through written word or pictures and a further six months for breaching a local order including when a protest erupted outside the bar over the image in December.

Both terms carry hard labour.

Blackwood's lawyer Mya Thway had earlier told the court his client had not intended to insult religion and was simply promoting a cheap drinks night.

But AFP reports that Judge Ye Lwin said on Tuesday that although Blackwood posted an apology, he had "intentionally plotted to insult religious belief" when he uploaded the mocked-up image on Facebook.

The trial was seen as a sign of growing religious intolerance in Myanmar, with a growing Buddhist nationalist movement spearheaded by extremist monks, and often targeting Muslim communities.

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