68 The Independent Commission for Human Rights - ICHR 2. Detention without due process of law (illegal detention) In some cases, the law allows to deprive individuals of their personal liberty to satisfy an overriding a legitimate public interest. A case in point in the enforcement of criminal laws. However, the law prohibits illegal deprivation of personal liberty without causes prescribed by law or without due process of law. The most important measure to be observed when a person is arrested or detained is a warrant duly issued by a competent authority. Only in cases of flagrante delicto can a person be arrested without adequate warrant. The law also requires that the accused be informed of the reasons for their arrest or detention and of the charge imputed to them at the time of the arrest. In all cases, the person arrested or detained over a criminal charge must be promptly brought before the competent court for disposition of the legality of their arrest or detention. In practice, however, security agencies continued to arrest or detain individuals without obtaining warrants from competent judicial bodies, namely, the Public Prosecution and courts. In clear contravention to the law, security agencies did so in cases other than flagrant offences, rendering such detention illegal. Including 74 in the West Bank and 80 in the Gaza Strip, there were 154 claims of detention without adequate warrant. According to 19 claims, detained persons were not informed of the reasons for their arrest or of the charges imputed to them (18 in the West Bank and 1 in Gaza). Claims of failure to bring detained persons before competent courts totalled 58 (48 in the West Bank and 10 in Gaza). Violations of guarantees of lawful detention also involved prohibition against communicating with the outside world (32) and denial of access to a legal counsel (6). Chart 10: Patterns of illegal detention 160 152 140 120 100 80 58 60 40 16 20 0 Detention without adequate warrant 32 6 Failure to state Failure to bring Prohibition Denial of access reasons of detained against to a legal detention persons before communicating counsel competent with the courts outside etention in two years Chart 11: Claims of illegal detention: 2020-2021 320 310 300 The Situation of Human Rights290 in Palestine 280 307