Dhaka, Jan 9 : Three of the five former Bangladesh Army officers convicted and sentenced to death for the 1975 murder of the country's founding father Sheikh Mujibur Rahman Saturday sought clemency from the president.

"Three of the five convicts have submitted mercy petitions," a jail official said.

Names of the three were not announced, Star Online reported.

The Dhaka district and sessions judge Jan 3 sent the signed death warrants of the five convicts - Bazlul Huda, Mohiuddin Ahmed, Syed Faruque Rahman, Sultan Shahriyar Rashid Khan and A. K. M. Mohiuddin - to the Dhaka Central Jail.

The Supreme Court in a long-awaited judgement, on Nov 19 last year, rejected appeals of the five convicted killers, upholding their death sentences.

Saturday was the last date to seek clemency from the president.

The condemned men had seven days from the receipt of the death warrants to seek clemency, according to law.

The government led by Mujib's daughter, Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, has ignored an appeal by US-based human rights watchdog Amnesty International that the death sentences should be converted to life imprisonment. (IANS)