E/CN.4/2001/66 page 157 reportedly forced at gunpoint to go and search for Shan soldiers and taken away together with 20 porters. After a while the soldiers allegedly told the porters to kill the monk. They are said to have refused, so the soldiers reportedly shot him and threw his body down a valley. 794. Aye Pong, an 11-year-old girl from a village located in Nam Zarng township, was allegedly raped and killed in September 1997. She is said to have returned with her 25-year-old brother and an unidentified woman to their village after having been forcibly relocated, in order to retrieve a bullock and a cart. Government troops reportedly shot her brother dead and raped her and the other woman, before killing her and the bullock. The other woman is said to have been released after serving some time as a porter. 795. The Special Rapporteur has also continued to receive information about cases of torture in the context of forced labour duties performed by prisoners, as well as by ordinary civilians. Extrajudicial punishment of labourers can amount to physical abuse, beatings, rape and torture, sometimes even murder. The health, safety and other basic needs of forced labourers are reportedly disregarded by the authorities, often leading to death by accident or sickness. According to the information received, several factors, including the lack of proper food, clothing and resting time, are believed to lead the forced labourers to rapid exhaustion, which in turn results in their being frequently beaten or otherwise physically abused by soldiers. It is also believed that porters, including women, are often sent ahead in particularly dangerous situations as in suspected minefields, resulting in serious casualties. The practice of forced portering is said to occur mostly in the areas where armed ethnic minority groups are active. The Rapporteur transmitted information concerning the following individual cases. 796. Mi Reh, an animist farmer from De Ri Dah village, was reportedly beaten to death by troops of the tatmadaw in September 1998. He had returned to his village in order to harvest his rice crop when he was caught by the tatmadaw and forced to carry ammunition. He was allegedly beaten with a rifle butt and kicked because he walked too slowly. He is said to have made his way back to his family hiding in the forest, but he reportedly died two weeks later for lack of medical assistance. 797. Pa Kler, a Karenni Buddhist rice farmer from Kawkareik township, Kayin State, was reportedly killed during forced portering duty in mid-1996. He is said to have become very weak and sick, to the point that he was no longer able to carry his load. The soldiers reportedly beat him to death with their rifle butts and left his body unburied by the main road, one hour by car from Kawkareik. 798. Hla Du, a Karenni from Kawkareik township, Kayin State, was allegedly one of 10 men forced to carry ammunition and food supplies for the government forces in July 1996. He was allegedly beaten, had his eyes gouged out, his limbs broken, and was finally stabbed to death in his ribs by the soldiers for unspecified reasons. 799. Pa Di, a farmer from Bilin township, Thaton district, Mon State, was reportedly called as a porter in September 1998. After having refused, he is said to have been beaten with sticks to the point of unconsciousness by soldiers, who then reportedly stabbed him to death.