A Ghanaian and six others have been sentenced to death by a Libyan court for their involvement in violent clashes between African immigrants and Libyans in September last year.

The other convicts are four Nigerians and two Libyans. Their names were not given.

According to a report in the Vanguard newspaper in Lagos, Nigeria, one of the Nigerians was sentenced in absentia, while the others appeared before the People's Tribunal, a special Libyan court.

The seven were found guilty of plotting against the policy of Libya and its leading role in Africa and undermining the aim of the Libyan Jamahariya to create a united African entity and for disturbing public order.

The five non-Libyans were also convicted on "the murder of Libyan citizens and theft".

Twelve other Africans were condemned to life in prison, while 165 people, several of them Libyans, were sentenced to jail terms of between six months and 15 years. The other 147 suspects were found innocent.

A total of 290 Libyans and 41 foreigners were tried in connection with the clashes last year, during which the Libyan government said six people were killed - a Libyan, two Chadians, two Nigerians and a Sudanese. But witnesses say the bloody clashes left more than 130 dead and prompted as many as 33,000 Africans to flee Libya.

According to the Libyan government, the disturbances started in the town of Zawia, about 40 kilometres (25 miles) west of Tripoli, when a Libyan wanted to defend his sister who had been raped by a Sudanese national.

Those found guilty have 30 days in which to appeal. The trial was held amid strict security, with all roads leading to the Police Academy where the court session was held blocked to traffic.

When the verdicts were read out, members of the security services at the court had to move in to restore calm in the hall, as some of the accused fainted, while those acquitted celebrated. The verdict came after last Thursday's discovery of the bodies of 93 Africans in southern Libya.

A Niger government spokesman said last week Friday that 140 Africans, apparently attempting to enter the country illegally, died in the desert on Libya's southern border, when the truck transporting them from Niger broke down.

Several ambassadors, including those of Egypt, Ghana, Nigeria and Tunisia, were present at the trial, which began on January 23, along with a large number of journalists.

Nearly two million people from sub-Saharan Africa live in Libya, which has a population of around five million.