Two Bangladesh opposition leaders have been executed for war crimes committed during the 1971 independence struggle against Pakistan.

Salahuddin Quader Chowdhury and Ali Ahsan Mohammad Mujahid were hanged in Dhaka's central jail.

They were convicted of genocide and rape - charges they denied.

Chowdhury has been an influential politician - he was elected MP six times. Mujahid was a top leader of Bangladesh's largest Islamist party.

Home Minister Asaduzzaman Khan said they were hanged after President Abdul Hamid rejected appeals for clemency by the two men.

However, family members have dismissed reports that the men had made any such appeals, which would have also required admissions of guilt.

"My father said he did not seek any mercy," Chowdhury's son, Humam Qauder Chowdhury, told AFP news agency, after meeting his father for the last time hours before his execution. "He has always said he's innocent."

(BBC)