Death sentences for war crimes New Delhi: A war-crimes tribunal in Bangladesh has sentenced two expatriates - one now living in the United States and the other in Britain - to death by hanging for the murder of 18 people during the country's war of independence from Pakistan in 1971. Both defendants fled Bangladesh soon after it gained independence from Pakistan. Chowdhury Mueen Uddin is a prominent Muslim leader in London, while Ashrafuzzaman Khan lives in New York.