Beijing  - The family of a Chinese scientist and businessman convicted of spying for Taiwan expressed shock and outrage at his execution and charged the Chinese government with keeping it "in the dark."

Wo Weihan, 60, was executed Friday after being convicted in 2007 following a closed trial in which he had been charged with passing secret Chinese military data to Taiwan.

His daughters, who both are Austrian citizens, said in a statement that they were promised one last meeting with their father Friday but, as they tried to see him, were informed he had been executed.

"We, the family, were not allowed to say goodbye," Ran and Di Chen said. "We were also denied the most fundamental and universal right of information about what was happening with our father. Throughout these four years since our father's arrest, the family was kept in the dark."

"The execution was carried out in secrecy while we hoped," said their statement released in Beijing. "My father was put to death, so was our hope in the Chinese justice system."

His execution drew international condemnation, including from the European Union, which had lobbied for the release of Wo, who had lived in Austria during the 1990s.

The European Union "deeply regrets the fact that China has not heeded the repeated calls by the European Union and several of its member states for this execution to be deferred and for the death sentence passed against Mr Wo to be commuted," an EU statement said.

The fact that the execution was carried out on the day of the human rights dialogue between the European Union and China "emphasizes the ruthlessness and coldness" of the decision, Austrian Foreign Minister Ursula Plassnik said.

The US government charged that Wo's confession had been coerced and questioned the validity of the spying charges brought against him.

A US State Department spokeswoman described her government as being "deeply disturbed and dismayed" by Wo's death.

The information Wo was convicted of passing on to Taiwan included photocopies of publications accessed from the library of the Chinese Academy of Sciences as well as information about the health of a top Chinese leader.

The verdict against Wo said he had confessed, but Wo's family said he confessed without a lawyer present and later recanted.

Ran Chen had been allowed to meet with Wo Thursday as her sister flew to China. They both were promised a meeting with their father Friday, but in the late afternoon, they were informed through the Austrian embassy that their father had been executed by gunshot, they said.

Ran Chen said Wo did not know of his impending death when they saw one another Thursday and did not have any final words or leave a will for his family.

"These procedures degrade humanity," she and her sister said. "Our hearts are bleeding." (dpa)