4 executed in Equatorial Guinea coup plot; opposition calls them political assassinations

4 executed in Equatorial Guinea coup plot

JOHANNESBURG — Amnesty International says Equatorial Guinea has executed four alleged coup plotters in a matter of hours in what it calls a “pretense of justice.”

The main opposition party in the oil-rich but impoverished Central African nation described it as “political assassination.”

Amnesty International says the former military and government officials were abducted from neighboring Benin and held at a prison notorious for torture until they “confessed” to a February 2009 attack.

The government says they got a fair trial before a military tribunal and were found guilty Saturday of attempting to assassinate the head of state and high treason. It says the penalty by law is death.

President Teodoro Obiang has survived many coup attempts.