A military tribunal in the west African state of Cameroon...

A military tribunal in the west African state of Cameroon sentenced seven people to death for the murder of the police chief in the town of Bamenda, legal officials said.
Eight people had been on trial in connection with the murder of Garoua Alkaki, the police chief of a main town in the English- speaking part of the country in January 2002.
Seven were found guilty of the murder and sentenced to death by firing squad, while the eighth, a police inspector who is also the mother of one of the accused, was sentenced to two years in prison for harbouring her son during the investigations.
A ninth suspect died in custody, legal sources said.
For more than ten years, death sentences handed down by courts in Cameroon, a former French colony with English-speaking provinces near the Nigerian border, have not been carried out.
The court also ordered those found guilty of having carried out the murder to pay damages of eight million CFA francs (12,000 euros) to the seven children and two widows of the slain police chief.
Defence lawyers, who have been critical of the way the trial was conducted, said they intended to appeal the sentences.
Alkali was gunned down on the night of January 8, 2002 as he was getting into his car.
According to investigators, Alkali's murder had been planned and ordered by one of his mistresses, angry at having been dumped by the police chief.