DHAKA, BANGLADESH, DEC 23 - A special tribunal in Bangladesh has convicted a man of collaborating with the Pakistani army and sentenced him to death for several killings during the nation's 1971 independence war. Judge Obaidul Hasan announced the verdict against Syed Mohammed Kaiser in a packed court room in Dhaka on Tuesday.

Bangladesh blames Pakistani soldiers and local collaborators for the death s of 3 million people during the nine-month war. An estimated 200,000 women were raped and about 10 million people were forced to take shelter in refugee camps in neighboring India. The 73-year-old man, a former Cabinet member under a former military dictator, was in the court for the verdict and sentencing.

Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina initiated the process of trying people suspected of carrying out war crimes in 1971.