A/HRC/28/49 25 persons who had been arbitrarily detained, including three women, were released by the county court judge on 11 December. Many of them had been in custody serving sentences issued by customary courts, despite the fact that those courts do not have legal authority to pass such sentences. E. Freedom of expression 41. Respect for freedom of expression further deteriorated, with continuing acts of intimidation, harassment and threats against the media and journalists, mostly by NSS agents, being reported. Several editions of newspapers have been temporarily confiscated and the newspaper offices ordered to close down, radio stations have been closed, and journalists have been arrested and interrogated or harassed. This has resulted in an atmosphere of self-censorship and has increasingly undermined the exercise of freedom of expression. 42. On 16 August 2014, NSS closed Radio Bakhita, run by the Roman Catholic Church, arrested and detained its news editor, reportedly following a report, aired on 15 August, on fresh fighting in Unity State, including views from SLPM/A in Opposition sources that had been quoted in the Sudan Tribune. The editor was released on 19 August following pressure from national and international media associations, and the station reopened on 5 November. 43. On 10 October 2014, an SLPA spokesperson reportedly warned journalists to obtain the “correct facts” from military command before reporting on any military or securityrelated issues. On the same day, NSS arrested and detained a foreign journalist, who was released without charge on 15 October. On 31 October, NSS detained a photojournalist for coverage at a petrol station during a fuel crisis. On 31 October, the editor of a major daily newspaper was summoned by the police and kept in custody for several hours after a complaint had been received about one of his opinion pieces. 44. On 9 September 2014, the Office of the President reported that three media bills had been signed into law: the Media Authority Act, the Right of Access to Information Act and the Broadcasting Cooperation Act. While some portions of the laws promote human rights, the Media Authority Act retains the criminalization of defamation from the South Sudan Penal Code of 2008, making the offence punishable by a fine or up to two years in prison. With the powers to appoint and remove members of the bodies established by those laws given to the executive, the protection for journalists and media practitioners envisaged by the laws appears to be nominal. F. Accountability 45. There were very few significant developments in the area of accountability for human rights violations and abuses, particularly those committed since the outbreak of violence in December 2013. While some accountability measures in specific individual cases were noted, including arrests and investigations in relation to the alleged killings of civilians by police in Central Equatoria and Northern Bahr el Ghazal in November 2014, in general there appeared to have been no meaningful efforts by national actors to hold perpetrators of gross violations of human rights accountable. 46. On 5 December 2014, senior officials of the Presidential Committee on Human Rights Abuses, established in January 2014 to investigate human rights violations and abuses committed by security agents and opposition forces, informed UNMISS that its report had been finalized and submitted to the President. At the same time, the Inspector General of Police of South Sudan informed UNMISS that investigations conducted by the 11