LONDON - Three men from London were sentenced Monday to life imprisonment after being convicted over a plot to blow up transatlantic flights using liquid bombs.

Ibrahim Savant, Arafat Waheed Khan and Waheed Zaman will serve at least 20 years in jail over the conspiracy that led to the introduction of strict new rules about carrying liquids on commercial flights.

The three were tried last year in connection with a 2006 plot to blow up seven transatlantic flights from Britain to North America using liquid explosives, but cleared of specifically targeting airlines.

Prosecutors tried them again this year on charges of conspiracy to murder, based on "martyrdom videos" they recorded threatening attacks on Western targets, and they were found guilty on Thursday.

A total of 12 people have now been convicted in relation to the liquid bomb plot, including ringleader Abdulla Ahmed Ali, who was sentenced last September to a minimum of 40 years in jail.

The plan was to smuggle explosives made of hydrogen peroxide onto the planes in soft drink bottles.

Refilled batteries would carry the chemical detonator, with the bombs set off using a charge from a light bulb filament.

They would have been assembled and detonated in mid-air by a team of suicide bombers, causing untold damage, prosecutors said.

BDST: 1930 HRS, July 12, 2010