The Iranian and Tajik suspects were convicted by a court presided by judge Hamad Abdul Latif Jawad.  They were sentenced after being found guilty of aiding and abetting the assassination of Sulim Yamadayev.

Yamadayev was a Chechen military leader who was gunned down in the parking lot of his Jumeirah Beach Residence (JBR) home in March, 2009.

Earlier, the lawyers defending them had disputed the evidence submitted by prosecutors and asked the court to acquit them.

The suspects had pleaded innocent.

Dubai police say an aide to Kadyrov, Adam Delimkhanov, ordered the killing.

Last year Interpol issued arrest warrants for seven Russians in connection with the killing.

Delimkhanov, a Chechen deputy prime minister and a Russian MP, rejects the allegations and has accused the police of incompetence.

It is alleged that the Iranian handed over a briefcase containing the murder weapon. The Tajik was accused of collecting intelligence for the assassination and of helping the killers flee the UAE.

Yamadayev led an elite division of Chechnya's security forces and was once close to President Kadyrov, but fell out with him in 2008 and fled Russia.