A/HRC/16/53/Add.1 Special Rapporteur’s previous communications report (see A/HRC/13/40/Add.1, paras. 8083) and he has in the meantime received the response’s translation. (b) Response from the Government dated 4 January 2010 74. On 4 January 2010, the Government of Egypt replied to the communication of 26 November 2009. The information provided below by the Government concerns the background to the rioting and disorder that occurred in Farshout in the governorate of Qana and is based on the investigations carried out by the Office of the Public Prosecutor. 75. The Government indicated that in the second half of November 2009, the people of Farshout learned that a citizen called G. had sexually assaulted a little girl. The matter was recorded in Farshout administrative report No. 3257 of 2009. More than 600 persons from the city of Farshout gathered outside the police station, demanding that the assailant be brought outside, as they wanted to take revenge on him for what he had done to the girl. The people in the crowd became incensed when they discovered that the accused would be referred to Qana court, thereby precluding any possibility of him being subjected to direct retaliation but rather to whatever verdict the court would subsequently deliver. The police intervened to disperse the crowd. The people then headed off to the city, where they set off fires and destroyed public property and private property owned by Copts who live in the city and suburbs – the purpose being to put pressure on the police and force them into surrendering the accused so that revenge could be taken. 76. Two police reports, Farshout administrative report No. 3257 of 2009 and Farshout administrative report No. 3278 of 2009, were written about the sexual assault and the attack on public property and premises owned by Copts in Farshout (as mentioned in the letter of the Special Rapporteur). The Office of the Public Prosecutor immediately launched an investigation. Sixty-nine persons were arrested and questioned and 54 were detained until they had been interviewed about the attacks. The case is still being investigated. The remaining victims are being questioned and 13 persons suspected of being involved in carrying out and instigating the attacks were summoned to appear. The forensic reports will be examined by the Office of the Public Prosecutor as soon as they arrive, together with the report of the committee established at the local unit level. 77. The Office of the Public Prosecutor instructed the forensic laboratory to examine the premises and property that had been set on fire and to prepare a detailed report on the weapons and ammunition seized at the scene of the crime. A local unit committee was set up to inspect the damage to commercial premises and estimate the costs. 78. In addition to the above, the Government drew the Special Rapporteur’s attention to a number of points about the measures taken to protect the Copts and their property, to bring those involved in these attacks and the instigators to account and to provide the Copts who suffered damage with access to legal remedies and compensation, in the framework of a comprehensive approach aimed at preventing the recurrence of sectarian violence in Farshout. • The security forces intervened, as soon as the rioting and attacks began, in order to protect the Copts of the city. No clashes between the two sides were recorded and there were no injuries or deaths. The police took action to stop the arbitrary attacks and arrested dozens of persons suspected of participating in or instigating the attacks. These persons are being examined by the Office of the Public Prosecutor in preparation for trial. This disproves any claim that the security services failed to control the situation or to protect the Copts. Indeed, the direct cause of the public unrest was the determination of the police to do their duty by protecting the accused, a Copt, who was implicated in a sexual attack upon a Muslim girl, and by protecting the members of his family, until such time as the accused was brought before the 17