which is responsible for internal security, and the Umbutfo Eswatini Defense Force (USDF), which handles external security, are "generally professional", according to the U.S. State Department, but are inefficient, corrupt, and lacking in resources. There are also "community police" under the control of tribal chiefs. Indigent defendants are entitled to free counsel only if they are facing the death penalty or life imprisonment. Defendants are usually informed promptly of charges, but are not always charged within the prescribed 48-hour period after arrest. There is a bail system. Members of the political opposition are sometimes arrested and held without charges. Pretrial detention can often be long. Rights of persons on trial The constitution and law guarantee an independent judiciary, but since judges are appointed by the king their independence is limited. There are two sets of civilian courts, those that draw on Roman-Dutch law and those that draw on tribal law and custom. The latter, in which defendants are not permitted to have lawyers, can only try minor offenses and have limited sentencing powers. It is up to the Director of Public Prosecutions to select the court system under which a case will be tried. There are also military courts in which defendants may be convicted based on hearsay. The right to a public trial is generally respected, as are the right to question witnesses, examine government evidence, and so on. Amnesty International notes that "access to justice for victims of human rights abuses has been undermined" since June 2011 "by a renewed crisis in the rule of law. A senior High Court judge, Thomas Masuku, whose rulings have long contributed to the protection of human rights in Eswatini, was subjected to blatantly unfair removal proceedings....These developments also set an ominous precedent for other members of the judiciary and have a direct impact on the overall independence of the functioning of the judiciary in Swaziland." In a March 2012 statement, Amnesty International said that "concrete and immediate measures to guarantee the independence and impartiality of the judiciary" that had been promised by Eswatini were "urgently needed", given that "the protection of human rights and access to justice for victims of human rights violations continues to deteriorate through what is in effect a crisis in the rule of law". The human-rights group noted that in addition to removing Thomas Masuku from the bench, the Swazi government had dismissed Minister of Justice David