A mainland Chinese lawyer says he is unable to see his client, one of 12 Hongkongers detained in Shenzhen after a failed escape bid to Taiwan, as authorities claim he has not been properly appointed.

Lawyer Lu Siwei said on Wednesday that he was not allowed to meet the Hong Kong woman, surnamed Kiu or Qiao, after detention center officials said she had accepted state-appointed legal representatives.

Lu’s client was among the group of Hongkongers intercepted on Aug. 23 by Chinese coast guard as they headed for Taiwan in a speedboat. The suspects, aged between 16 and 33, are in mainland Chinese custody for illegally crossing the border.

Lu, a human rights lawyer from Sichuan province, told Apple Daily that he arrived at Yantian District Detention Center at around 1:40 p.m. on Wednesday, but police said he needed to wait 48 hours for authorities to decide if a meeting with his client would be granted.

In an apparent U-turn, detention center officials told Lu after two hours that his client had hired other lawyers but gave no further information about their identities.

“I think their argument was unreasonable and restricted my right to meet with my client,” Lu told Apple Daily, adding that he planned to file a complaint with Yantian authorities.

Another lawyer, Ren Quanniu, held out hope that he might be able to meet with his client as soon as next week, although he was “not optimistic.”

Ren told RTHK that he was waiting for documents from his client’s family in Hong Kong that would certify his status as the appointed lawyer, but added there was no guarantee that Shenzhen authorities would accept his credentials.

His client’s family members had told him not to speak to the media, a request that reflected their “extreme anxiety and fear,” Ren said.

Solicitor and former lawmaker Albert Ho, who is also vice chairperson of the Hong Kong Alliance in Support of Patriotic Democratic Movements of China, said it was “commonplace” for Chinese authorities to claim a detainee had switched lawyers, and that state-appointed lawyers typically worked for the government’s interests.

“We often see cases of authorities asking [detainees] to sign all sorts of agreements,” Ho said. “The suspects are in their custody; there’s not much we can do.”

The Hong Kong government should send representatives to visit the detained Hongkongers, Ho said, though Hong Kong’s immigration authorities had refused to follow up on similar cases in the past.

Citing the usual practices of mainland Chinese courts, Ho said that the 12 suspects might be brought to trial on very little notice, which would make it difficult for their defense lawyers and family members to attend the hearings.

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