00:00Businessman Dominic Hadid and his wife Genevieve have lost their bid to secure their release from detention under the state
00:07of emergency.
00:08In a lengthy ruling delivered Tuesday, Justice Frank Cipersa dismissed the couple's application for a writ of habeas corpus,
00:16finding that the evidence before the court suggested they were initially lawfully detained under Regulation 13 of the Emergency Powers
00:25Regulations
00:26before preventive detention orders were issued by the Minister of Homeland Security, Roger Alexander.
00:33The Hadids were arrested on June 24 after officers executed a search warrant at their Westmoorings home
00:40as part of an investigation into an alleged conspiracy to assassinate Prime Minister Kamala Passat-Bissasa,
00:47Attorney General John Jeremy and other members of the government.
00:51Police also alleged they were suspects in the offence of making statements prejudicial to public safety under the Emergency Powers
00:58Regulations.
00:59The court reviewed police station diary entries, notices of detention and preventive detention orders
01:06and found there was evidence that the couple had been informed of the reasons for their arrest
01:11and that officers had formed what the law requires as an honest suspicion to justify their detention.
01:18Cipersa said, quote, a state of emergency cannot eclipse the rule of law.
01:23The Constitution does not contemplate that the executive should become the exclusive judge of the legality of the extraordinary powers
01:31entrusted to it, end quote.
01:33The judge said while the courts must show restraint in matters involving national security,
01:38they retain an important constitutional duty to ensure emergency powers remain within the limits of the law.
01:45He noted that the minister's preventive detention orders relied on intelligence,
01:49alleging the Hadiths were involved in an ongoing conspiracy to assassinate senior government officials,
01:56possess the resources to carry out such a plot, and that their continued liberty posed a threat to public safety.
02:03He ruled that at this stage, the minister appeared to have lawfully exercised his discretion in issuing those detention orders.
02:12The court also rejected arguments that any alleged defect in the couple's initial arrest
02:17automatically invalidated the preventive detention orders,
02:22finding that the minister's decision was legally separate from the initial arrest process.
02:27Cipersa said, quote,
02:29Emergency powers remain legal powers as they derive their legitimacy from law and remain reviewable by law, end quote.
02:37Justice Cipersa further found that releasing the Hadiths at this stage could pose a greater risk
02:42if the intelligence relied upon by police and the minister ultimately proves credible,
02:48tipping the balance against granting interim relief.
02:52Even as he dismissed the habeas corpus application,
02:55the judge emphasized that judicial oversight continues throughout a state of emergency,
03:00saying, quote,
03:08Justice Cipersa also ordered the couple to pay the Commission of Police's legal costs
03:13associated with the habeas corpus application with the amount to be assessed by the registrar
03:18if the parties cannot agree.
03:20Although the Hadiths were denied immediate release,
03:23the court granted them leave to pursue judicial review challenging aspects of their detention,
03:29the preventive detention orders and sections of the emergency powers' regulations.
03:35That matter is scheduled to be heard before a differently constituted court on July 22nd.
03:41Ravishita Wari Rupnarein, TV6 News.
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