A/57/274 several other members of the church were sentenced to prison, among them Sun Minghua (reportedly sentenced to life imprisonment and denied political rights for life); Xiao Yanli (allegedly sentenced to 18 years’ imprisonment and denied political rights for two years); and Yi Chanfu (reportedly sentenced to 20 years’ imprisonment). 24. Several women allegedly connected with the church were reportedly tortured and sexually abused at Jingmen Police School and Jingmen No. 1 Detention Centre, among them Zhang Hongjuan, Li Tongjin, Yang Tongni, Fengmaio, Chi Faling, Tong Cuijuan, Wang Lan, Song Fengju and Li Li. 25. The following 48 members of the South China Church have reportedly been arrested and most of them are said to be still in detention centres or labour camps: Dong Daolai, Du Qingfeng, Qiu Chunyi, Cao Hongmei, Fu Shizun, Li Yingping, Gao Fengping, Liu Xianzhi, Yan Zhaoming, Zhang Nianhua, Ke Jinfang, Wang Jianguo, Shao Aihua, Yang Chijiao, Gu Xuegui, Deng Tongjuan, Xu Tongzheng, Xie Zhu, Wang Fengyun, Nie Caiqiao, Li Rongchi, Gu Xueqin, Luo Qiong, Zhao Xiqing, Liu Yamei, Wang Tongqiong, Chi Famin, Yu Tongren, Li Qiong, Long Feng, Zhang Xiuying, Cheng Tongpin, Tong Jin, Tong Fei, Yin Li, Yin Tonghuan, Lan Haiying, Li Hongyan, Wang Guofu, Xue Fengqin, Chen Tongguo, Zhu Anhua, Peng Aijun, Ma Jinsheng and spouse, Jin Rong, Tan Qingzang, Song Chumei. 26. Lai Kwong Keung was reportedly arrested on 31 May 2001 together with Yu Zhudi and Lin Xifu while transporting Bibles to Fuqing city, Fujian Province. They were reportedly sentenced from two to three years’ imprisonment for an illegal operation because they had reportedly brought more than 33,000 Bibles into China. 27. On 5 February 2002, the Special Rapporteur jointly with the Special Rapporteur on torture sent the Chinese Government an urgent communication on behalf of a Falun Gong practitioner, Wei Yanjiang, aged 60, who reportedly was arrested on 22 December 2001 and began a hunger strike following ill-treatment suffered at the Shunyi County police station in Beijing. It is alleged that, after 18 days of hunger strike, Mrs. Wei was sent to the Masanjia labour camp where she was exposed to fresh torture and ill-treatment. 28. By a letter dated 24 May 2002, the Government responded notably: 6 “Since November 1999, Mrs. Wei Yanjiang has twice been taken into administrative detention for disrupting public order and has spent a year in re-education through labour. Following her release, she continued to take part in activities that disturbed the social order. She was detained in December 2001 and, on 8 January 2002, the Huludao City law-enforcement authorities assigned her to three years’ re-education through labour in accordance with the law. Since her admission, the re-education facility has throughout treated her sympathetically, educating her and trying to win her back — it has at no time employed any sort of verbal or physical abuse on her. At her check-up on entering the facility she was found to be suffering from heart disease and was given prompt treatment. The claim that she was ‘handcuffed and forced to stand outside in the cold’ is utter nonsense.” Egypt 29. On 1 March 2002, the Special Rapporteur sent a communication to the Government of Egypt regarding Coptic Christians who gathered near El-Minya on 10 February 2002 to celebrate the first Mass in their new church and who were reportedly pelted with rocks and firebombs by a group of Muslims apparently upset by the ringing of the church bells. Eleven of them were reportedly injured, and 15 homes were burned and a number of others looted. This attack was reportedly the latest in a string of assaults on new churches built by Copts. These actions, which have allegedly resulted in the destruction of at least nine churches in the last five years, are believed to be frequently unpunished. 30. In response to this communication, Egypt sent a detailed reply to the Special Rapporteur giving additional information on the events themselves and an account of the steps taken to restore security, the judicial procedures initiated against those responsible and the efforts to reconcile the communities, which led to the establishment of a commission to evaluate the damage caused by the clashes and to proceed to the necessary reparations at the expense of the State. Egypt replied that the judicial authorities had fully discharged their responsibility with respect to previous attacks on churches, and the fact that the appeal lodged by the Office of the Public Prosecutor against the judgements pronounced in the Kocheh case had been successful provided the proof of this. The abolition of the