incommunicado

Many of the most prominent have been held "incommunicado", allowed no contact at all with lawyers or relatives for several years.

When Mr. Hadi’s lawyers began screening images of cells similar to those where he was kept incommunicado in 2006 and 2007, a prosecutor protested, only to learn that the material had recently been declassified.

The families should be relentless in demanding that the embassy obtain quick access, Genser said, since extended incommunicado detention can shield torture or mistreatment.

“But the alternative of holding them in lengthy detention, incommunicado, in such harsh conditions is also not a normal legal option.”

Rights lawyers say that locating detainees in the Israeli system is difficult, and they describe the situation as a form of incommunicado detention.