Sana'a, Yemen  - A Yemeni court sentenced three more Shiite rebels to death on Tuesday, a day after seven of their comrades were given the death sentence for their role in fighting government forces near the capital last year.

The court also sentenced six other rebels to jail terms of 5-15 years for participating in the fighting.

Presiding judge Muhssein Alwan said the convictions were based on confessions and information gathered by prosecutors. The defendants refused to plea during the trial, saying the court was not legitimate.

On Monday, the same court sentenced seven members of the outlawed Believing Youth movement to death and gave seven others jail terms of up to 15 years.

The two groups are among the 190 insurgents captured by security forces during the clashes in Bani-Hushaish that lasted nearly three months.

Both groups were charged with forming an "organized terrorist group" to carry out attacks against security and army forces in Bani-Hushaish, some 30 kilometres north of Sana'a.

Prosecutors said the defendants were loyal to leading rebel Abdul-Malik al-Houthi, who heads the outlawed Believing Youth group in the north-western province of Saada.

Fighting between army forces and rebels has flared intermittently in Saada since mid-2004, leaving hundreds of soldiers and insurgents dead. The rebels, known as Houthis, belong to the Zaidi sect of Shiite Islam.

In June 2007, the government and al-Houthi signed a Qatari- sponsored peace agreement, but tensions have since been on the rise between al-Houthi's followers and government forces in Saada.

Authorities accuse the rebels of trying to reinstall the rule of Shiite imams, which was toppled by a republican revolution in northern Yemen in 1962.(dpa)