LANAO DEL SUR - A video clip of an execution of three people in the southern Philippines has gone viral after it was leaked on Facebook.

The 12-minute execution video was uploaded by a certain "Abu Haneef Tabarusaw." It showed heavily armed men wearing dark clothes and bonnets, positioned in front of three men who were blindfolded and tied to poles.

Also seen in the video are flags similar to those belonging to the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF).

The men tied to a pole were identified only as Udi, Sabar and Patrol. They were allegedly convicted for the crime of murder and sentenced to death by a Sharia court last year.

The video also showed MILF Northwestern Division Commander Abdullah Macapaar alias Commander Bravo witnessing a last-minute plea for the lives of the three men. However, a man and an elderly woman refused to spare the lives of the three.

At a commander's cue, the men were shot dead in a fusillade of automatic rifles' gunfire.

The executioners shouted "Allahu Akbar!" before they untied the dead men and laid them down on the ground.

The incident happened in Watu Balindong, Lanao del Sur last year.

'Death penalty not uncommon in Islam'

In a telephone phone interview with ABS-CBN News, Commander Bravo explained that in Islam, convicts can settle with the aggrieved party through blood money or be pardoned.

He added that death penalty is not uncommon in Islam.

"Ang sabi ni Allah doon sa Quran, ang sino mang makapatay ay patayin rin," he said.

Commander Bravo added that the men who were executed were tried fairly in a court by 11 Islamic law scholars or ulamas. He was the last to sign the court’s execution order.

The MILF commander said the death of the three ended a feud between families.

Bravo also told ABS-CBN News that they also took videos of previous executions and only one has been leaked online so far.