E/CN.4/1989/44 paqe 14 all archeoloqical sites and was removed as far as possible from sites used by contemporary Indians for spiritual activities. But this did not satisfy the plaintiffs. They contended that their religion required privacy, silence, and an undisturbed natural settinq in the forest area. "The Court, notinq that the land at issue was qovernment land, held that the Government is not required to subordinate the affairs of the qeneral public to the reliqious beliefs of particular citizens if the qovernmental action does not penalize citizens for practisinq their religion or coerce them into actinq aqainst their beliefs. The Court relied on an earlier precedent in which plaintiffs had insisted that they could receive welfare benefits without qettinq a social security number for their infant dauqhter because that would 'prevent her from attaininq qreater spiritual power'. "As the Court reasoned: 'A broad ranqe of qovernment activities from social welfare proqrammes to foreiqn aid to conservation projects will always be considered essential to the spiritual well-beinq of some citizens, often on the basis of sincerely held reliqious beliefs. Others will find the very same activities deeply offensive and perhaps incompatible with their own search for spiritual fulfilment and with the tenets of their religion. The Constitution does not, and courts cannot, offer to reconcile the various competing demands on government, many of them rooted in sincere religious belief, that inevitably arise in so diverse a society as ours.' "By its decision, the Supreme Court remanded the Lyng case for further proceedings consistent with its decision and instructed the lower court to take into consideration 'any other relevant events that may have intervened'. Final resolution of the case remains pending before a panel of the United States Court of Appeals for the ninth circuit." Indonesia 40. In a communication of 21 July 1988 addressed to the Government concerned, the following information was transmitted by the Special Rapporteur: "It has been alleged that a number of Islamic religious leaders have been arrested during 1987. At least 12 Muslim leaders are reportedly known to have been imprisoned under the Anti-Subversion Law (ASL) during the first four months of 1987 for expressing non-violent views. Specific cases reportedly include (name provided), a student aged 25, sentenced in February 1987 to 12 years' imprisonment for his participation in the Usroh movement, an Islamic education and mutual aid society; and (name provided), a tailor in his forties, sentenced in January 1987 to 3 years' imprisonment for distributing copies of a banned Muslim newspaper. An additional four persons were reportedly indicted in May and June 1987 for Usroh activities. "It has been alleqed that numerous public seminars have been forcibly disbanded by the police in recent months, including a seminar on 'the essence of pilqrimaqe' orqanized by the Islamic Students International Study Institute.