E/CN.4/2001/0063 page 4 flee the country. These departures are reportedly due to Taliban measures to force conversion to Islam and to discrimination against women, such as confining them to their homes or requiring them to wear the burqa in public. In addition, on 19 March 2000, the Ministry for the Promotion of Virtue and the Prevention of Vice announced on Radio Shariat that the celebration of Nawruz, the first day of the Persian solar New Year, was anti-Islamic. On 20 March 2000, Taliban soldiers reportedly pursued and assaulted a crowd of people who had gathered to celebrate Nawruz near the capital at Khair Khana and at the Sakhi shrine in Kabul. South Africa 6. During 2000 the Media Review Network and representatives of the Muslim community complained of the fear of Muslims displayed and fomented by some of the media in South Africa, which was creating a climate of insecurity among that community. Saudi Arabia 7. On 24 April 2000, at Najran, security forces reportedly clashed with members of the Ismaili community. According to the Saudi press agency, these incidents were linked to the arrest of a sorcerer which apparently led to Ismaili demonstrations. The clashes reportedly caused the death of one person and the wounding of four others. Other sources claim that the Ismailis were actually protesting against the closing of an Ismaili mosque by the religious police. 8. In its reply, Saudi Arabia stressed its sincere willingness to cooperate with the Special Rapporteur, and it provided the following explanations regarding the aforementioned allegation: the information that had been spread by some press agencies on the case in question was inaccurate. The incident had in fact been an isolated one that had been blown out of proportion by certain parties, even though the Saudi authorities had immediately provided clarification of the incident in various newspapers. The facts were the following: information had reached the security forces about the illegal practice of sorcery on a large scale by an inhabitant of the kingdom, provoking reactions from a large number of citizens and residents. Following repeated complaints about those unacceptable and illegal activities, on 22 April 2000 the authorities had allowed security officers to arrest the person concerned on the basis of an official warrant in order to investigate the complaints. When the person’s house was searched, one of the individuals present had opened fire on the security officers, one of whom had been seriously injured. In addition, a group of individuals, taking advantage of the situation, had gone to the home of the emir of the region to demand the release of the sorcerer and had fired in the direction of the emir’s residence, killing one guard and wounding three others. Saudi Arabia stressed that the incident was in fact a breach of the peace that had endangered the lives of others and violated the laws and regulations in force. 9. From the circumstances it would seem, Saudi Arabia maintains, that no ideological or religious objective is involved. Like other citizens, citizens who belong to the Ismaili sect are free to pray and worship, and they have their own mosques. The person who was at the origin of the incident was arrested for sorcery, which is forbidden by law in Saudi Arabia. According to Saudi Arabia, this had nothing to do with the person’s affiliation with the Ismaili sect, whose