Four Tibetans have been sentenced to death for starting deadly fires during last year's unrest in Lhasa, according to China's state-run media.

The first known death penalty cases in the region since 2002 were handed down yesterday by the Lhasa Municipal Intermediate People's Court.

Tibetan exile groups have condemned the convictions, which they say are politically motivated and carried out without adequate legal safeguards.

According to the Xinhua news agency, Lobsang Gyaltsen will be executed for arson attacks on two garment shops in central Lhasa on 14 March that killed a shop owner. The same sentence was handed down to Loyak for torching a motorcycle dealership in Deqen Township, which left five people dead, it said.

Suspended death penalties were passed on an accomplice, Kangtsuk, and on Tenzin Phuntsok who reportedly confessed to starting a separate lethal fire. A fifth defendant is still being tried.

"The three arson cases are among the crimes that led to the worst consequences in the 14 March riot," the court spokeseman was quoted by Xinhua as saying. "Their crimes incurred great losses to people's lives and property and severely undermine the social order, security and stability."

Free Tibet attacked the sentences, saying that they lacked legal safeguards:

"Today's report of the imposition of the death penalties in two cases is of huge concern in the light of evidence that has continued to emerge from Tibet since last year, which clearly shows that politically-motivated cases against Tibetans are being mounted in the complete absence of even the most basic legal oversight and due process," said Free Tibet spokesperson, Matt Whitticase.

"International governments should be demanding immediate access to Chinese courts in Tibet for their consular staff based in Beijing as well as the re-opening of Tibet to the international media."

China's state media claimed the trials were open and the defendants were represented by lawyers, but there was no way to assess this claim as access to Tibet is heavily restricted for foreign reporters.