DHAKA: A special court in Bangladesh sentenced a man to death and two of his associates to life in prison on Wednesday after finding them guilty of killing two local fighters during the country's 1971 war of independence.

The three were also convicted on charges of raping women and confining and torturing unarmed people.

The three-member International Crimes Tribunal, set up by Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina in 2010, announced the decision in a packed courtroom in Dhaka. Defense attorneys said they would appeal the verdict to a higher court.

Five senior leaders, including the chief of Bangladesh's largest Islamist party, Jamaat-e-Islami, and three of his deputies, have already been hanged after being found guilty of war crimes.-AP