Fears are growing that Myanmar's military junta could put dozens more political prisoners to death, after high-profile executions sparked international backlash this week.
The executions of four men have brought into sharp focus the fate of more than 100 people sentenced to death under the regime since the coup in February last year.
Student activist Minn Khant Kyaw Linn told the ABC the public was outraged.
"There is fear from the family members of death-sentenced victims who are detained. Will their family members be executed in the next round?"
But he said the people's hatred of the regime outweighed their fear.
"It will just add more fuel to the rebellion of pro-democracy supporters," he said.
Seventy-four people in detention have been sentenced to death in Myanmar since the February 1 military takeover, according to the Assistance Association for Political Prisoners (AAPP).
A further 41 people were handed death sentences in absentia and are not in the junta's custody, bringing the total to 115.
Tom Andrews, the UN Special Rapporteur on the situation on human rights in Myanmar, has said the estimate is even higher, at around 140.
AAPP said two boys under the age of 18 were also initially sentenced to death, but those sentences were revoked and they face re-trial in a juvenile court due to their age.
Among the four executed at the weekend were former hip hop artist and MP Phyo Zeya Thaw and prominent democracy activist Kyaw Min Yu, known as Jimmy.
Both had travelled to Australia in the past and built connections with the diaspora community here.
Reports have begun to swirl that further executions could be imminent, but the ABC has been unable to independently verify them.
"There is an information blackout from within Insein Prison at the moment. But we know 41 death row political prisoners have been separated [from] other sentenced prisoners," AAPP joint-secretary U Bo Kyi told the ABC.
"We do not know if it is a threat or intention to execute. Ultimately, the military does not care for any laws, so who can say."
Little is known about the prisoners on death row, who were mostly convicted in closed-door military trials.
The AAPP database shows most were sentenced under counter terrorism laws or section 302 of the penal code, which deals with punishment for murder.
But U Bo Kyi said the country's penal institution is being "used as a weapon to oppress the people".
Dr Justine Chambers, a postdoctoral researcher at the Danish Institute for International Studies, told the ABC many family members would be reluctant to speak out now for fear of painting a target on their backs.
"The reason it's so hard to get information on people who are currently on death row is because a lot of their families actually don't want to draw attention to them… in case they become another symbol for the military to show their power," she said.
Dr Chambers said Myanmar people had been left shaken by the executions — even under the former military regime, which was regarded as particularly brutal, death sentences had not been carried out in more than 30 years.
"The military, I think, was hoping to use these executions to reassert control and instil fear in the population, but actually, it's created anger — it's galvanised people against them," she said.
She added while the recent executions could be seen as an escalation in some respects, they took place in the context of the army's ongoing violence.
More than 2,100 have been killed by the junta since the coup, according to AAPP, and soldiers who defected have described to the BBC how the military forces burnt people alive and raped girls.
Dr Chambers said the military's unpredictability was "terrifying" for ordinary people — whether they were on death row or not.
"This constant threat of violence is always there," she said.
Children taken as hostages, UN rapporteur says
Mr Andrews, the UN Special Rapporteur, told ABC's Radio National this week that executing the four prisoners "was a desperate move by a desperate junta".
Around 14,000 people have been arbitrarily detained since the coup, among them 1,400 children, he said.
"As a matter of fact, 61 children are being held by this junta as hostages, so that their parents, their family members, will give themselves up," he said.
"So this killing, these executions, are in the context of a very deep, horrific brutality that's become a living nightmare for people of Myanmar throughout the country."
Prior to the executions, Amnesty International had labelled Myanmar's approach to the death penalty as "abolitionist in practice" but had noted a dramatic increase in the number of people sentenced to death since the military seized control.
"As resistance to the coup shows no sign of waning, Myanmar's military is getting desperate, so desperate that it is willing to resume executions after more than 30 years in a despicable attempt to terrify the population into submission," an Amnesty regional spokesperson said.
"The military will apparently do anything to maintain control, even if that ruins lives and destroys families. International pressure on the Myanmar military must be stepped up.
"Silence and inaction will only embolden the military to commit more human rights abuses, which means more lives ruined and more loved ones lost."
Australian economist Sean Turnell, an advisor to Aung San Suu Kyi, remains in custody in Myanmar and faces trial under the Official Secrets Act.
"The Australian government should do even more for the Australian national in arbitrary detention facing a kangaroo court," AAPP's U Bo Kyi said.
He said every country in the region must condemn the "execution murders" and had a duty to put strong economic and political pressure on the regime.
"The Australian government must work together with like-minded countries and pressure other countries to impose targeted sanctions and stop the flow of weapons used by a military to kill its own people," he said.
The ABC understands the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade called in Myanmar's chargé d'affaires on Tuesday and made strong representations condemning the executions.
Foreign Minister Penny Wong this week said Australia was "appalled" by the executions and called for an end to the violence, adding that sanctions against members of the military regime were under "active consideration".
Myanmar's military spokesperson Zaw Min Tun has defended the executions, saying they were enacted under the law.
"I knew it would raise criticism but it was done for justice. It was not personal," he said.
Myanmar's Ministry of Foreign Affairs also slammed countries for condemning the executions.
"The ministry cautions that such concerns and criticisms of the Myanmar government's legal actions could be tantamount to interfering in the internal affairs of the country and indirectly abetting terrorism," it said in a statement.
