Free Tibet is reporting that 4 Tibetans were executed by the Chinese government for their role in the Tibetan riots that took place in 2008. There are a few outlets reporting the executions, however the Chinese government is denying that they took place.

Tibetan Centre for Human Rights and Democracy (TCHRD) says that Lobsang Gyaltsen, Loyak, Penkyi and two other unnamed Tibetans were executed taking part in the Tibetan uprising in the Spring of 2008.

They were sentenced to death by the Lhasa intermediate people’s court on charges of arson. The state controlled media in China has yet to confirm the executions. From the TCHRD report:

According to the Chinese official mouthpiece dated 8 April 2009, Lhasa Municipal Intermediate People’s Court sentenced two people to death (Lobsang Gyaltsen and Loyak), two to suspended death penalties (Tenzin Phuntsok and Kangtsuk) and another (Dawa Sangpo) to life imprisonment on charges of arson causing death. The five were convicted of torching five shops in Lhasa, killing seven people, during the March 14 riot.

The report also notes that The People’s Republic of China hands down more death sentences than any other country in the world. You mean even more than the tyrannical United States? I wonder if those death sentences include the forced abortions in China’s population control policy?

These Tibetan executions are only the first of what is sure to be more in connection with the riots from 2008.