E/CN.4/1993/62 page 60 The Special Rapporteur has already spoken in his last report (E/CN.4/1992/52, para. 55) of the desecration and damage sustained by the holy shrines in Karbala and Najaf. He was subsequently informed that gifts which have been made to the shrine of the Imam Ali in Najaf for over a thousand years by kings and rulers, principally from Persia and India, such as jewels, gold and manuscripts, have been looted from the main treasury of the shrine. The family who have traditionally acted as custodians of the shrine have indicated that all the treasures which had been stored in two large rooms adjacent to the shrine courtyard have disappeared. An ancient Koran in Kufic script which is believed to have belonged to this collection of treasures was allegedly later offered for sale. Looting of the Al-Abbas and Al-Hussein shrines in Karbala has also been reported. The Special Rapporteur indicated in his last report that entire sections of towns and cities with a predominantly Shia population have been demolished (E/CN.4/1992/52, para. 55). It has been reported that the historical Tal Al Zaynabiya district of Karbala was demolished recently with the purported aim of modernization, as is the case with other old quarters in that city and in Najaf. It has also been alleged that all religious property belonging to the Khoja Shia Ithna Ashari community (which originates from India and also lives in Europe, Africa, North America, the Middle East and Pakistan) in Karbala, Baghdad and Basra has been confiscated and offered for sale at public auctions. As the Special Rapporteur indicated in his previous report (E/CN.4/1992/52, para. 55), the Wadi al Salam cemetery in Najaf, which is one of the largest in the world and an important place of Shia pilgrimage, was desecrated and destroyed. The Special Rapporteur has been informed that, in an additional act of desecration, a highway has been built over its remains. It has also been alleged that the Fiqh College in Najaf, the only remaining official academic Shia religious college in the country, has been closed and that its premises have been converted into a souk (market). All of its students are said to have been transferred to a Sunni Sharia college in Baghdad. It has also been alleged that more than 100 senior members of religious schools in Najaf continue to be detained and that eyewitnesses have confirmed their presence in governmental safety houses in Baghdad. In his previous report, the Special Rapporteur referred to the situation of the Grand Ayatollah as-Sayyid Abul Qasim Al-Khoei (E/CN.4/1992/52, para. 52) who passed away in Kufa on 8 August 1992 after having spent the last 18 months of his life under house arrest. It has been alleged that the Grand Ayatollah was buried unceremoniously in the cemetery adjacent to the Al-Khadra mosque in Najaf before dawn the following day in the presence of only six persons and that no displays of public mourning were allowed. No doctors were reportedly allowed to examine the body before the burial. Plans for a public funeral were reportedly cancelled after police visited his family home on the eve of the burial. It has also been alleged that phone links were cut and a curfew imposed on Najaf with a view to prevent massive attendance of the funeral. It was further reported that troops patrolled the streets of Najaf and that shops were forced to remain open. Numerous members of the Shia Muslim clergy were allegedly placed under house arrest and many mosques were also closed on that occasion.