[4] Depending on the social context, many or the vast majority of arbitrarily arrested individuals may be held incommunicado and their whereabouts can be concealed from their family, associates, the public population and open trial courts.
Article 9 of the 1948 Universal Declaration of Human Rights decrees that "no one shall be subjected to arbitrary arrest, detention or exile";[7] that is, no individual, regardless of circumstances, is to be deprived of their liberty or exiled from their country without having first committed an actual criminal offense against a legal statute, and the government cannot deprive an individual of their liberty without proper due process of law.
As well, the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights specifies the protection from arbitrary arrest and detention by the Article 9.
[8] The implementation of the Covenants is monitored by the United Nations human rights treaty bodies.
In response, the regional government arbitrarily arrested activists and journalists covering the protests under the pretext of preserving “national security”.