detention without trial
Held without charges
Detention without trial is the imprisonment of a person by government authorities without formal charges or judicial proceedings.
The practice bypasses normal legal protections—no arraignment, no evidence presented, no opportunity to mount a defense.
It appears in emergency powers legislation, immigration enforcement, and national security contexts: Suspected terrorists were held in detention without trial for years.
The phrase carries strong negative connotations, suggesting abuse of state power.
- internmentWartime civilian imprisonment
- imprisonmentLegal detention in jail
- indefiniteNot precisely determined
- GuantanamoUS base in Cuba
- enemy combatantHostile military opponent
war on terror · arbitrary · unlawful · political prisoner · prisoner of conscience · incarceration · custody · held · locked away · captive · suspected · emergency powers · black site · secret prison · rendition · disappeared · national security · tribunal
- Apartheidapartheid, pass laws, Group Areas Act, passbook, passbooks
- detentionjail, captive, prison, captivity, detainee
- Stasi operationsStasi, state security, secret police, informants, political arrests
detention without trialdue process
Guaranteed judicial fairness
fair trial · trial by jury · habeas corpus · arraignment · presumption of innocence
detention without trialfreedom
Absence of constraint
release · liberty · acquittal · discharge · exoneration
detention without trialrule of law
Supremacy of established laws
legal accountability · judicial oversight · checks and balances · judicial review · legal safeguards
detention, detaining, detainment, retention, retentive, container, tenure, tenable, without