DHAKA: Bangladesh has defended the death sentences handed to 152 soldiers for mutiny, insisting Wednesday that those convicted would have an opportunity to appeal and denying claims that confessions were extracted through torture.

“The convicts have at least two tiers of appeal,” Law Minister Shafique Ahmed said, the day after a court in Dhaka delivered its verdicts against 823 soldiers who were on trial over a bloody mutiny nearly five years ago.

“No death sentence will be carried out unless they are confirmed in the higher courts,” Ahmed added.

As well as the death sentences, the special court jailed more than 400 people on Tuesday at the end of the largest trial in the country's history since independence in 1971.

Those sentenced to death had been accused of looting weapons and then embarking on a killing spree at a military base in February 2009, partly in anger that pleas for better pay and treatment had been ignored.

A total of 74 people were killed during the two-day mutiny in Dhaka, including 57 senior officers, some of whom were hacked to death or burnt alive before their bodies were dumped in sewers or shallow graves.

While confessions were read in court, rights groups said that the army and an elite security force had used torture against suspected mutineers.

Meenakshi Ganguly of the New York-based Human Rights Watch said her organisation had documented the deaths of 47 soldiers who were taken into custody after the mutiny.

She said HRW activists had interviewed other suspects who suffered permanent disabilities or developed psychological problems after their interrogation at the hands of the army or the Rapid Action Battalion (RAB).

“Many of the accused did not know what they were charged with and didn't have legal representation,” Ganguly told AFP.

“They said RAB and army officers who questioned them also tortured them in a bid to punish them even before they were found guilty.”Law Minister Ahmed however rubbished the allegation, saying: “Why would there be torture?”Lead prosecutor Mosharraf Hossain also dismissed the “baseless”allegations, insisting that the trial was conducted in exemplary fashion.

“There were 654 witnesses, which is unprecedented in the world,” said Hossain. “The defendants' lawyers had plenty of time to question the witnesses. Every defendant had a lawyer, either appointed by him or by the state.”

The court on Tuesday also acquitted 271 people of involvement in the mutiny.

Lawyers for the soldiers on death row have said they will appeal.