A/HRC/38/50 incarceration based on the rule of law. The commission of inquiry on human rights in Eritrea also extensively documented arbitrary arrests and detentions and prison conditions (see A/HRC/29/42 and A/HRC/32/47).3 33. For a decision to arrest someone to be lawful, there needs to be a legal basis. Any arrest or detention should be conducted in accordance with procedures respectful of national laws and international human rights norms. Consequently, substantive grounds of arrest or detention need to be established by national law. States are therefore under the obligation to precisely define each ground for arrest to avoid excessively broad or arbitrary interpretation and application. National laws should be aligned with international human rights standards. It follows that arrests and deprivation of liberty should not be unjust, unreasonable and unnecessary, or lack predictability; briefly put, arrests should follow due process. Furthermore, the specific manner of arrest must not be discriminatory and should be deemed to be appropriate and proportional given the specific circumstances of the case. 34. Arrests and detention used as a form of punishment for the legitimate and peaceful exercise of fundamental rights, including freedom of expression and opinion, freedom of assembly and association and freedom of religion, are deemed arbitrary. 35. The specific cases of arrest and detention that the Special Rapporteur has documented over the past 18 months show that the Government of Eritrea implemented its notorious and repeatedly documented modus operandi: mass arrests are carried out to instil fear; persons taken into custody are not allowed to exercise their rights to due process to challenge the legality of their detention; arrested persons, including children, are kept incommunicado; and family members are not formally notified of the arrests and detentions. While some family members have been able to discover the whereabouts of their loved ones through informal channels to deliver food and clothing, others are reluctant to enquire because they fear they will be arrested and detained as well. A number of illustrative cases are set out below. 36. Cases sanctioning actual or perceived critics of State policies and practices and the exercise of freedom of expression and information include: (a) The arrest and detention of Musa Mohammed Nur, the former director of the Al Dia School in the Akhria neighbourhood of Asmara, and other committee members of the school at the end of October 2017 after they declined to apply government directives that contradicted long-established practices at the school; (b) The arrest and detention of two journalists following the funeral of Musa Mohammed Nur in March 2018; (c) The arrest and detention of the owner of an Internet café in 2016, presumably for his suspected involvement in the sharing of information with people outside of Eritrea, showing scenes from daily life in Asmara that the Government considers negative, such as pictures of people queuing for basic commodities. 37. are: Among cases concerning the exercise of freedom of association and peaceful protests (a) The arrest and detention of participants in peaceful demonstrations on 31 October 2017, protesting the arrest and detention of Musa Mohammed Nur and other committee members of the Al Dia School. Many of those arrested were Al Dia school students and their parents. In the following days scores of people were indiscriminately arrested on the streets and during night house raids, mainly in the Akhria neighbourhood, without search or arrest warrants, while others were arrested on their way to work. Women and children were also arrested and detained. Reportedly, a number of the child detainees under 18 years old were released a few days later. People from Asmara were taken in lorries outside of the city, away from their families. Most of those arrested were Muslims, some of them community leaders in Akhria; 3 See also the reports of the detailed findings of the commission of inquiry (A/HRC/29/CRP.1 and A/HRC/32/CRP.1), available on the Human Rights Council website from www.ohchr.org/EN/HRBodies/HRC/CoIEritrea/Pages/ReportCoIEritrea.aspx. 7