E/CN.4/2005/61/Add.1 Page 45 labour. Also, several crosses in ethnic Chin areas were destroyed in 2004 (e.g. in April in Matupi), allegedly in order to be replaced by Buddhist pagodas. There were also reports that religious communities and religious gatherings were systematically hindered by the authorities. 173. Rohingyas, members of a Muslim minority, were regularly refused citizenship by the Government on the grounds that their ancestors allegedly did not reside in the country when colonial rule ended. This negatively impacts on other rights, such as access to secondary education and employment as civil servants. They also faced restrictions of their freedom of movement and were victims of forced labour. There were reports of the systematic eviction of Muslims from their villages, which were afterwards taken over for settlement of members of the Buddhist majority for socalled “model villages”. In the course of these evictions, mosques had been destroyed and replaced by Buddhist pagodas (e.g. in May 2004 in Maungdaw township). Nigeria Communications and replies received 174. On 7 May 2004, the Special Rapporteur transmitted a communication to the Government of Nigeria in relation to information according to which, on 2 May 2004, about 630 persons, most of them members of a community of Hausa-speaking Muslims, were killed as a result of new inter-religious violence in the village of Yelwa-Shendam, Plateau State. On Sunday, 2 May 2004, hundreds of Christian Tarok militia allegedly invaded the town of Yelwa, sealed off roads to the town with felled trees, and killed hundreds of Muslims with machetes and machine guns mounted on jeeps. It was also reported that several houses were destroyed and two mosques badly damaged in the attack, but that calm had returned after the police intervened. All the Muslims in Yelwa-Shendam were believed to have fled to the village of Kurgwi in the nearby Quaan Pan Local Government Area, for fear of further attacks. The attack allegedly followed the killing of almost 100 Christians in Yelwa in February 2004, including 48 massacred in a church, and brought the total death toll in three months of fighting in the region to at least 1,000. 175. On 26 October 2004, the Special Rapporteur, jointly with the Special Rapporteur on extrajudicial, summary or arbitrary executions, the Special Rapporteur on the question of torture and the Special Rapporteur on violence against women, its causes and consequences, sent an urgent appeal to the Government regarding the situation of Hajara Ibrahim, aged 18, from Lere Local Government Area of Bauchi State, and Daso Adamu, aged 26, from Ningi Local Government Area. According to the information received, the two women were sentenced to death by stoning by Shariah courts in Bauchi State following trials that were considered as unfair by their legal representatives at the time. On 5 October 2004, Ms. Ibrahim was sentenced by a Shariah court in Tafawa Balewa after she reportedly confessed to having had sex outside marriage. According to the Shariah court judge, the sentence was subject to the approval of the Governor of Bauchi State. Ms. Ibrahim was seven months pregnant at the time of the communication, and her sentence was supposed to be carried out after she delivered her baby. The male co-accused was acquitted for lack of evidence. It was further reported that, with the help of a local NGO, Hajara Ibrahim appealed the sentence. Her appeal was scheduled for a hearing on 25 October 2004.