A/HRC/30/60 III. Recent developments 12. On 4 January 2015, Parliament approved amendments to the 2005 national interim Constitution, including additional powers for the President to appoint and remove senior officials, including State governors, as well as those holding other senior constitutional, judicial, military, police and security posts. The amendment to article 151 transformed the National Security Service from an intelligence agency focused on information gathering, analysis and advice to a full-fledged security agency with a broad mandate to exercise a number of functions usually carried out by the armed forces or other law enforcement agencies. 13. The Independent Expert notes that the increased mandate and powers of the National Security Service is already having a far-reaching, negative impact on the promotion and protection of human rights. Under the National Security Act, National Security Service agents have immunity from civil and criminal liability for acts conducted in “the course of their duty” or in “good faith”. They are only subject to prosecution if the Director General of the National Security Service decides to lift this “immunity” or “prerogative”. 14. With the recent development, there is a risk that the mandate of the National Security Service, cutting across intelligence, military and law enforcement spheres, could also undermine or unduly interfere with ordinary police work, thus creating confusion and causing further dysfunction in the criminal justice system. 15. On 22 February 2015, the President of the Sudan assented to a bill amending article 149 of the Sudanese Criminal Code. The amendment made a substantive and legal distinction between rape and adultery. The Independent Expert commends the Sudanese authorities for this legal reform, which constitutes a concrete step in the fight against impunity for violence against women in the Sudan. He expects that more cases of sexual violence, particularly rape, will be reported to authorities, and that rape victims will be encouraged to pursue legal redress given that they will no longer be accused of adultery.1 16. General elections were held at all levels of government (national, state and local) from 13 to 15 April, despite repeated calls from opposition forces and civil society groups for a postponement of the elections. The elections were extended by a day by the National Elections Commission, until 16 April. Three major opposition parties, including the Umma National Party, the Popular Congress Party and the Sudanese Communist Party, under the umbrella of the National Consensus Forces, as well as some civil society organizations boycotted the elections, claiming that the political and security environment was not conducive to the holding of free and fair elections. The elections were monitored by observers from the African Union, who reported a low turnout of voters throughout the country. In the final results released by the National Elections Commission, President Omar Al Bashir was declared winner in the national presidential ballot, winning 94 per cent of votes. 17. In the lead-up to and during the elections, human rights organizations and UNAMID recorded a number of human rights violations. On 6 and 7 December 2014, Dr. Amin Mekki Medani, a human rights activist, Farouk Abu Issa, the leader of the National Consensus Forces, and Farah Alagar, another political activist, were arrested by the National Security Service for having signed and supported the “Sudan Call”, a political declaration calling for the restoration of democracy in the Sudan that had been signed by Sudanese opposition parties, rebel movements and civil society. Dr. Medani and Mr. Abu 1 Prior to the amendment, legal provisions in the article allowed for prosecution of rape victims for adultery if rape was not proven. 5