A/HRC/13/40/Add.1 her. On 1 February 2009, Ms. Sun’s family was told to go to Wangcun Women’s Forced Labour Camp to collect her ashes. 35. Ms. Hou Lihua, resident of Dongan District, Mudanjiang City, Heilongjiang Province: Hou Lihua was arrested at her workplace on 17 November 2008 and taken to the Mudanjiang City State Security unit. According to witnesses, she was beaten and otherwise ill-treated while in custody there. She was released in December 2008 but died on 14 February 2009 due to the injuries sustained in custody. (b) Response from the Government dated 22 May 2009 36. On 22 May 2009, the Government of China replied to the joint communication of 13 March 2009. Since the Special Rapporteur had not received the response’s translation from the relevant services at the time this report was finalized, she is unfortunately not in a position to summarize in English the content of the Government’s response in the present report. However, a copy of the original response letter is available online at the following address: www2.ohchr.org/english/issues/religion/docs/response220509china.pdf. (c) Observations by the Special Rapporteur 37. The Special Rapporteur is grateful that the Government of China replied to the joint communication of 13 March 2009 and hopes to be able to make observations on the response in the next report. 3. (a) Communication sent on 9 April 2009 jointly with the Special Rapporteur on the promotion and protection of the right to freedom of opinion and expression, the Special Rapporteur on extrajudicial, summary or arbitrary executions and the Special Rapporteur on torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment Allegations transmitted to the Government 38. The Special Rapporteurs brought to the attention of the Government information they had received regarding the death of Mr. Phuntsok Rabgay, a 27-year-old monk, in Drango County, Garzê Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture, Sichuan Province. On 25 March 2009, Phuntsok Rabgay was pasting leaflets containing allegations that monks had been tortured and imprisoned by the authorities and an appeal to the local population to forego crop cultivation and harvest as a gesture of mourning and disobedience. He was detected by Drango County Public Security Bureau (PSB) personnel and tried to elude arrest by fleeing on a motorcycle. The PSB personnel, however, managed to pursue and catch him. Upon arrest, they beat him with batons. He died shortly thereafter. The PSB officers reportedly dropped his body from a hill in order to create the appearance of a case of suicide. 39. The Special Rapporteurs, inter alia, referred to General Assembly resolution 63/181, which urges States “to step up their efforts to protect and promote freedom of thought, conscience, religion or belief, and to this end: (a) To ensure that their constitutional and legislative systems provide adequate and effective guarantees of freedom of thought, conscience, religion and belief to all without distinction, inter alia, by the provision of effective remedies in cases where the right to freedom of thought, conscience, religion or belief, or the right to practise freely one’s religion, including the right to change one’s religion or belief, is violated; (b) To ensure that no one within their jurisdiction is deprived of the right to life, liberty or security of person because of religion or belief and that no one is subjected to torture or other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment, or arbitrary arrest or detention on that account and to bring to justice all perpetrators of violations of these rights”. 14