E/CN.4/2004/63 page 14 Nigeria 70. The first two communications are dealt with in paragraphs 80 to 83 of the interim report. 71. The third concerns reports that acts of religious violence have caused 15 deaths since 8 June 2003 in the town of Numan. Gangs of Christian youths are said to have set fire to several mosques in the town and to have been responsible for violence in neighbouring villages. Uzbekistan 72. The first two communications are dealt with in paragraphs 102 to 107 of the interim report. 73. In letters dated 10 and 18 July 2003, the Government provides a detailed reply to these two communications. With regard to the difficulties encountered by Jehovah’s Witnesses, the Government replies that the latter belonged to an unregistered religious organization and points out that, in several of the cases mentioned by the Special Rapporteur, members of this community had received fines and prison sentences for offering illegal religious instruction and, in one case, for committing acts that “offended the religious and atheistic convictions of citizens with a view to inciting religious-based hatred against certain groups”. The difficulties encountered by other Christian minorities are explained in a similar way (they are unregistered and offer illegal religious instruction). 74. With regard to the conditions for Muslims in prison No. 6461, the Government points out that they had been able to observe Ramadan and had not been punished for doing so. According to the Government, the information contained in the open letter from 22 Muslim prisoners did not correspond to reality. The letter’s signatories included prisoners who regularly broke prison rules and the letter had been sent after an incident on 17 April 2003 related to discipline in the workplace that had no effect on the exercise of prisoners’ freedom of religion. Moreover, 20 of the 22 signatories had apparently been reading religious materials in May and June 2003. 75. The third communication concerns reports that a Pentecostal pastor from Andijan had decided to seek asylum to protest against the conditions in which Protestants had to live in Andijan. Among other things, the authorities reportedly refused to register the Pentecostal Church, which prevents it from functioning normally. 76. The fourth communication concerns reports that, as part of a policy to prohibit the activities of Protestant churches that are not registered in Uzbekistan, the authorities in the town of Navoi confiscated books from a Baptist mobile library on 27 September 2003 and prevented members of the (unregistered) Baptist Church from holding a meeting. Pakistan 77. See paragraphs 84 and 85 of the interim report.