A/HRC/10/8/Add.1 page 33 prevented from doing so by a group of representatives from the local mosque, allegedly led by the Imam. Consequently, Mr. Isakov and Baptist leaders brought the issue to the Head of Administration of the Naryn district and subsequently to the Governor of the Naryn district. The Baptist group requested the Governor to provide police assistance in their village to protect the Isakov family and to allow them to bury the deceased boy; however, the Governor did not yield to this request. On 21 May 2008, the Head of Administration of the Naryn district reportedly came to the village to persuade the Isakov family to convert to Islam or give the boy’s body to his grandfather, who is a Muslim, in order to hold a funeral according to Muslim tradition. Mr. Isakov refused to do so and subsequently a crowd of people gathered at the Isakovs’ house and assaulted some of the Baptists present, including Mr. Isakov. A group of policemen arrived at the house in the evening but did not intervene or break up the mob outside the house. Instead the policemen went inside, took away the boy’s body and buried him in Akiyya, 40 kilometres from Kulanak. 123. On 22 May 2008, Mr. Isakov and other Baptists travelled to Akiyya where they found the boy buried in a hole, unwashed and in his clothes. Mr. Isakov dug out the body, washed it, wrapped it up in a white sheet and buried him in a new grave. Since the incident, the Isakov family has reportedly been pressurised by the village community. The village council denied them water to irrigate their crops. The children of the family have been assaulted by other children at school, and the village leaders have taken no action to protect them. 124. Concerns have been expressed that the events in Kulanak may be used to introduce amendments to the existing Religion Law in order to tighten control over religious organisations. Other religious communities, including the Bahá’ís, Jehova’s Witnesses and Hare Krishnas, have reportedly faced similar problems, where local authorities did not allow them to bury members of the religious community in local so-called “Muslim” territories, unless the family accepted to carry out the funeral according to Muslim rituals. Allegedly, a fatwa issued in 2002 by the Muftiate, the national Muslim spiritual leadership, banned the burial of non-Muslims in “Muslim” cemeteries. However, the press-secretary of the Muftiate stated that it is up to the people from the community to decide on burial issues. A meeting on 2 July 2008 at the State Agency for Religious Affairs to discuss the issue did not lead to a solution. Only representatives of the Muslim community participated in the meeting while no leaders from other religious groups were present. Observations 125. The Special Rapporteur regrets that she has not received a reply from the Government of Kyrgyzstan concerning the above mentioned allegations. She would to recall that, in its general comment No. 22 (1993), the Human Rights Committee observed that “the freedom to manifest religion or belief may be exercised ‘either individually or in community with others and in public or private’. The freedom to manifest religion or belief in worship, observance, practice and teaching encompasses a broad range of acts. The concept of worship extends to ritual and ceremonial acts giving direct expression to belief, as well as various practices integral to such acts, including the building of places of worship, the use of ritual formulae and objects, the display of symbols, and the observance of holidays and days of rest”. Furthermore, “Article 18.3 [of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights] permits restrictions on the freedom to manifest religion or belief only if limitations are prescribed by law and are necessary to protect public safety, order, health or morals, or the fundamental rights and freedoms of others.