DHAKA Twelve of 15 ex-army officers accused of the 1975 assassination of Bangladesh's founder Sheikh Mujibur Rahman face the death penalty after a high court judge Monday delivered a final ruling in a case that has sparked public protests.

According to AFP, Judge Mohammad Fazlul Karim took five hours to deliver his judgment in a crowded court, upholding a lower court verdict of death for Lieutenant Colonel Mohiuddin Ahmed, captain Abdul Mazed and noncommissioned officer Moslemuddin.

But he acquitted Major Ahmed Shariful Hossain, Captains M. Kismat Hashim and Nazmul Hossain Ansari on doubts about their involvement.

Karim also ruled that Mazed, whose charge two earlier judges had clashed over, be charged with conspiracy to murder.

The 15 officers were first sentenced to death by a lower court in 1998, although only four are in jail. The rest were sentenced in absentia.

The current appeal hearing started on February 12.

The fate of five army officers sentenced to death in 1998 became uncertain when a two-member bench in December gave a partially split verdict following an appeal.