E/CN.4/1991/56 page 88 The allegation contained in the note, to the effect that the church in the village of Mahmoudiya at Dairut in the district of Asyut was closed, is unfounded since it has been established that the building permit issued was for the construction of a poultry farm and not a place of worship." El Salvador 60. In a communication of 6 November 1990 addressed to the Government of El Salvador, the following information was transmitted by the Special Rapporteurs "With the declaration of the state of siege (November 1989), many reports indicate disturbing violations of the human rights of religious leaders or of helpers of the country's churches. According to the complaints, large numbers of persons are persecuted for belonging to specific religious denominations which are involved, out of social commitment, in work with the underprivileged classes of society. Although these cases have taken place in a situation of widespread violence, the sources indicate that the persons have allegedly been the victims of violence on account of their community and church work. Attention is drawn to the following cases: (a) Extrajudicial executions! Ignacio Ellacuria, S.J. Armando Lopez Quintana, S.J. Joaquin Lopez y Lopez 9 S.J. Juan Ramon Moreno Pardo, S.J. Ignacio Martin-Bar6, S»J. Segundo Monies Moso, S.J. Elba Julia Ramos Celina Maricet Ramos (15 years of age). The six Jesuits mentioned above, their cook and her daughter were murdered in the early morning of 16 November 1989, during the curfew, at their home in the Central American University (UCA) of San Salvador. The Jesuits were administrators and teachers at the University. The Government entrusted investigations into the murders with the "Investigating Commission into Criminal Acts", with the assistance of foreign police officers. On 19 January 1990, a charge was filed against Colonel Guillermo Alfredo Benavides Moreno, Director of the Gerardo Barrios Military School, two lieutenants and five lower-ranking officers, for their alleged responsibility for the murders. According to information received, Colonel Benavides was in charge of the military patrol for the University area on the night of the murders. The other officers are members of the "Atlacatl" Rapid Response Infantry Battalion. Complaints have subsequently been received about irregularities in the legal proceedings under way, including ill-treatment of key witnesses (allegedly in the case of Lucia Barrera de Cerna) and of deliberate concealment of evidence that could implicate higher-ranking officers as the people behind these serious acts. According to other sources, members of the Church received death threats. In March 1990, a communique from the so-called Alto Mando de los Esquadrones de Muerte (Death Squads High Command) threatened that, if all the members of the armed forces implicated in the massacre of the Jesuits were not freed before Easter Week (8-15 April 1990), they would "eliminate all the members of religious denominations and civilians involved in the case". The