A/57/274 Indonesia 39. On 11 December 2001, the Special Rapporteur sent a communication to the Government of Indonesia regarding alleged members of the Laskar Jihad militia, who reportedly attacked six villages around Poso, central Sulawesi, on 2 December 2001, burning hundreds of houses and churches in five villages located between Poso and Tentena. The militia reportedly bombarded the villages of Betalemba, Patiwunga, Tangkura, Sanginora, Debua and Sepe. Seven people are reported to have been killed. Myanmar 40. On 21 February 2002, the Special Rapporteur sent a communication to the Government of Myanmar regarding the fact that, on 9 September 2001 in Thaungman, the local authorities reportedly ordered Christians to stop conducting worship service in the church. Allegedly, the same restrictions had already been imposed on religious minorities, notably the Christians belonging to the Assembly of God, as well as Christians in Kankaw. Nigeria 41. The Special Rapporteur sent two communications, on 12 February and 28 April 2002, to the Government of Nigeria on the subject of the sentencing to death by stoning of Amina Lawal Kurami and Safiya Hussaini Tungar-Tudu. 42. Ms. Hussaini Tungar-Tudu was reportedly sentenced to death by stoning on 9 October 2002 by an Islamic court in Gwadabawa, for allegedly having had extramarital sexual relations. The man whom she allegedly had sex with was set free by the court after it concluded that it lacked sufficient evidence to prosecute him. The Special Rapporteur has learned from the press that Ms. Hussaini Tungar-Tudu was acquitted on 25 March 2002 by the Court of Appeal on procedural grounds, and that the Government has called on the dozen or so states which want application of the Sharia, or Islamic law, to provide the protection conferred on all citizens in the federal Constitution. 43. Despite this appeal, another young woman, Amina Lawal Kurami, is said to have been sentenced to death by stoning by the Bakori court on 22 March 2002, while the main she is said to have identified as the father of her child was allegedly released on the grounds that there were no witnesses. 44. The Special Rapporteur regrets that the Nigerian authorities have not replied to these communications and invites them to improve their cooperation, pursuant to the resolutions of the Commission on Human Rights and the terms of his mandate on freedom of religion or belief. Pakistan 45. The Special Rapporteur sent three communications to the Government of Pakistan, on 11 December 2001 and on 4 and 25 March 2002, regarding the following cases. 46. On 17 March 2002, five people were killed, among them Barbara Green and her daughter Kristen Wormsley, and 45 people were injured when two attackers burst into a Protestant international church during the morning service and threw several hand grenades. 47. On 26 February 2002, 11 worshippers attending evening prayers were reportedly killed by three gunmen who opened fire at the Shah-Najam Shi’ite mosque in the city of Rawalpindi. Allegedly, 14 people were also injured in the attack, and most of them were in a critical condition. 48. On 19 February 2002, unidentified gunmen reportedly shot dead a Shi’ite leader and four members of his family in the central province of Punjab. 49. On 28 October 2001, six gunmen reportedly entered Saint Dominic’s Roman Catholic Church and opened fire indiscriminately on worshippers, allegedly killing at least 18 people and injuring dozens more. Republic of Moldova 50. On 8 February 2002, the Special Rapporteur sent a communication to the Government of the Republic of Moldova regarding the following cases. On 28 January 2002, in the town of Tiraspol, officials from the State Building Inspectorate allegedly gave the pastor of a Baptist Church, Vasili Timoshchuk, a new deadline of 15 February for the enforced demolition of the church which had allegedly been put up illegally. The Baptists had reportedly paid a fine in 2001 because of the illegal building work done 13 years earlier but, according to the head of the Building Inspectorate Inspection Service, this had no impact on the decision as to whether to legalize the building. 9

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