A/HRC/6/19 page 98 received. As said in last response, Sudanese law prohibits any person from viewing documents of any investigation until charges have been made (applicable to any Sudanese as well): But once charge is made, HR monitors can have access to any document. Information Received from Other Sources on Recommendation 4.2 UN human rights officers continued to be refused unfettered and unimpeded access to detention facilities. In mid-October 2007, the Advisory Council on Human Rights sent a letter to the Director of UNMIS HR inviting UN human rights officers to visit all detention facilities in Darfur, so as to respond positively to a recommendation by the group of experts. On 24 October 2007, the human rights team presented this letter to the Director General of Prisons in Darfur, requesting access to Shalla prison, in El Fasher. The Director General stated that he thought that the letter was ‘irrelevant’ as it had not been issued by the Minister of Interior. According to the Director, the request submitted by the human rights team to him has to be sent to Khartoum, directed at the Office of the Commissioner General of Prisons. If he agrees, he could then pass it on to the Office of the Director General of Police, who in turn, if he approves it, could decide to pass it on finally to the Minister of Interior. The Minister would have ultimate authority whether or not to approve a request to visit Shalla prison. In any case, it should be noted that the letter does not grant UN human rights officers free access to detention facilities only in Khartoum, but it seems that many Darfurians have been held in connection with Darfur related events in Khartoum, and with regard to whom allegations of ill-treatment have been corroborated by the Khartoum human rights team. West Darfur Access to detention facilities in west-West Darfur was further reduced during the period under review, in particular since September 2007. Detainees in remand by the courts were detained in the West Darfur State Prison at Ardamata, in El Geneina. Since early 2006, when the Ministry of Interior issued an order forbidding foreign organizations access to detention facilities under the Ministry of the Interior without the personal authorization of the Minister of the Interior, UN human rights officers have not been able to conduct general visits to Ardamata Prison. However, they remained able to visit named individual pre-trial detainees through an established procedure whereby a prosecutor authorized the visit. UN human rights officers were able to carry out private interviews with these detainees. In September 2007, the Head of the West Darfur State Prisons Department refused all access by UN human rights officers to Ardamata Prison without prior authorization from the Minister of the Interior. On 12 September 2007, HROs in El Geneina sought and obtained authorization from the West Darfur State Prosecutor to visit a pre-trial detainee held in Ardamata Prison. On 16 September a UN human rights officer requested the prison director to allow him to visit the detainee on the basis of this authorization. The director refused access and referred the human rights officer to the Director of the West Darfur State Prisons Department. In a meeting with the officer, the director of the Prisons Department stated that UN human rights officers had to obtain authorization from the Ministry of the Interior before making any visit to the prison. The officer explained that in the past the human rights team had been visiting pre-trial detainees after obtaining permission from the prosecutor. However, the director insisted that prior authorization must be obtained from the Ministry itself.