E/CN.A/1992/52 page 40 According to the sources, it is estimated that some 800 members of the clergy (300 teachers and 500 students) have recently been rounded up in the holy cities of Karbala and Najaf and are currently missing. It is feared that many have been executed. The fate of their families, including women and children, is also said to be unknown. It is estimated that the total number of the clergy and their families is 5,000 in Najaf alone. It has been reported that all the religious scholars in the holy cities have either been killed or arrested and that a certain number had been shot in the street. This is reportedly the case of 65-year-old Sheikh Ali Ashgar Ahmadi. The Special Rapporteur has also been informed that the traditional call to prayer and pilgrimage to the holy shrines in Karbala and Najaf, which contains the tenets of Shia Islam, have been banned. The holy shrines of Shia Islam are said to have recently been desecrated, to have sustained considerable damage and to have been sealed off from worshippers. Public prayers are also said to have been banned. It has further been alleged that valuable religious books from a number of libraries have been burnt. Situation of Afghan religious scholars residing in Iraq The Special Rapporteur has received additional allegations affirming that a number of distinguished Afghan religious scholars who were residing in the cities of Kaazmin, Karbala and Najaf have either been killed or arrested. It is feared that those in detention are being subjected to torture. Situation of the Grand Ayatollah as-Sayyid Abul Qasim Al-Khoei It has been reported that on 20 March 1991 government forces carried out an armed raid on the traditional residence in Kufa, near the holy city of Najaf, of the Imam, Grand Ayatollah as-Sayyid Abul Qasim Al-Khoei (aged 95). According to the information received, the attack resulted in the death of numerous religious scholars, civilians from among the Imam's followers, and a considerable number of his guards. It has been alleged that on that occasion, the Grand Ayatollah was arrested together with his aides (eight religious scholars) and 10 members of his family (his daughter, son, daughter-in-law and seven grandchildren aged from three to 11). He is said to have been forced to walk over the dead bodies of his guards to the helicopter that transported him to Baghdad, where he was allegedly confined in a specially prepared detention centre. The Grand Ayatollah subsequently appeared in a television interview which is said to have been conducted under duress. The Grand Ayatollah is said to have spoken in a low, weak and halting voice and appeared short of breath. While in captivity, he was reportedly subjected to severe mental torture and is said to have subsequently appeared exhausted and distressed. The Special Rapporteur has received copies of certificates with the diagnoses of two doctors who have both stated that the Grand Ayatollah's condition had obviously deteriorated between the videos taken in Baghdad and Kufa and that he required urgent medical care, which was allegedly denied. Requests for transfer abroad for medical treatment have reportedly also been refused.