A/HRC/21/18 45. The President of the Human Rights Council, on behalf of the Bureau, met with the Permanent Representative of Sri Lanka in Geneva on 6 March 2012 in order to share information on defamatory media articles and express serious concern at reported incidents and intimidation measures by the Sri Lankan delegation in Geneva targeting Sri Lankan human rights defenders attending the nineteenth Council session. The Permanent Representative committed to investigate all allegations. 46. It is noted that Sri Lanka, in comments made on 23 March 2012 to the Human Rights Council, at its nineteenth session, asked for clarification on allegations that there had been threats to and intimidation of human rights defenders by members of its delegation, indicating that it treated such allegations with the utmost seriousness and did not condone such violations. In its comments, Sri Lanka denied allegations of intimidation or harassment of human rights activities in its reply under agenda item 4 of the twentieth session of the Council. In that statement, Sri Lanka also noted that “any individual expression of opinion as to the conduct of civil society activists in the local media and elsewhere cannot be interpreted as intimidation and the Government cannot be expected to assume responsibility for the free expression of opinion of third parties”. Sudan 47. On 19 June 2011, 16 civilians were arrested outside of the United Nations Mission in the Sudan (UNMIS) headquarters in Khartoum while attempting to deliver a petition on the violence in Southern Kordofan to the UNMIS Special Representative of the SecretaryGeneral and to the Deputy High Commissioner for Human Rights, who was due to arrive in Khartoum on an official visit to Sudan the following day. The activists were reportedly arrested by plain-clothed national security service personnel at the entrance to the UNMIS compound and driven to Khartoum East Police Station, where they were detained for approximately six hours before being released on bail following intervention by lawyers. One of the victims reported that some of the men arrested had been beaten up at the time of their arrest. All of the arrested activists were charged with the disturbance of public peace and public nuisance under articles 69 and 77 of the Criminal Act of 1991.12 48. On 26 June 2011, Bushra Gamar Hussein was reportedly arrested at the home of a relative in the Al-Thawra district of Omdurman in Khartoum by the National Intelligence and Security Service for allegedly “working with international organizations hostile to Sudan,” a crime under articles 50, 51, 53, 63, 64, 65 and 66 of the Sudanese Penal Code. Mr. Hussein is from Southern Kordofan and a member of the Nuba ethnic group. He is the founder and chair of the Human Rights and Development Organisation, a nongovernmental human rights organization which also provides humanitarian assistance to people of Nuba ethnic origin in Southern Kordofan. Mr. Hussein had travelled to Khartoum on an official mission calling for humanitarian assistance for displaced people in Southern Kordofan. 49. Reportedly, on 13 July 2011, the Attorney General ordered that Mr. Hussein be transferred to Kobar General Prison in Khartoum. It is alleged that the investigating authorities failed to establish evidence to substantiate the allegations against Mr. Hussein and that on 14 August, a judge ordered his release. Notwithstanding the judicial order in favour of Mr. Hussein, national security service agents allegedly re-arrested him when he left the courthouse. 12 12 “Thirteenth periodic report of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights on the situation of human rights in the Sudan: preliminary report on violations of international human rights and humanitarian law in Southern Kordofan from 5 to 30 June 2011”, August 2011, para. 42.