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After arrest and initial detention, Palestinians go first to interrogation centers. They may be held without judicial order for eight days and thereafter indefinitely. Lawyers have no access for up to 90 days, and prisoners have virtually no other outside contact during detention.
Following interrogation, they may either be released, formally charged, or placed under indefinite administrative detention. Those charged are transferred to Israeli prisons to await trial. Bail is almost never allowed. Administrative detainees are taken to Israeli prisons for six months after which they're subject to indefinite extensions.
Lawyers find it difficult to impossible to visit clients because restrictions "are so onerous" that most don't even try, except for the brief moments they're allowed before hearings begin.
In addition, learning where clients are held is so daunting that one attorney said:
"I feel like they're using these procedures to pressure lawyers like me to quit."
However, under military orders, authorities are obligated to inform families where prisoners are held and when they're moved. A central database is also maintained. Attorneys are supposed to have access, but getting it is hard, and the information in it often is inaccurate and not up to date.
Even worse, under Israeli law and military orders, Palestinian prisoners accused of being "security threats" may be prohibited from consulting an attorney - in military courts for up to 90 days and in civil ones up to three weeks. Appeals to the High Court may be made, but only by lawyers with Israeli citizenship or Israeli NGOs.
Permission is required to see clients in prison, but only on certain days, under imposed restrictions, and all prisons have their own procedures. Jewish lawyers are less impeded than Arab ones, but obstacles impeding judicial fairness hamper prisoners and counsel throughout the judicial process.
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