00:00The legal battle over the detention of businessman Dominic Hadid and his wife Genevieve has now moved to the Court
00:07of Appeal.
00:08On Tuesday, the couple filed a procedural appeal seeking to overturn Justice Frank Cipersad's June 30 ruling,
00:15which dismissed their application for interim relief and refused to order their release from detention pending the hearing of their
00:23constitutional challenge.
00:25The appeal argues that the High Court placed insufficient weight on one of the most fundamental constitutional rights, personal liberty.
00:34Among the grounds of appeal, the Hadid's contend that Justice Cipersad erred in treating financial compensation as an adequate remedy.
00:43Their attorneys argue, quote,
00:45The continuing deprivation of liberty is the paradigm of irreparable harm.
00:50Liberty taken cannot afterwards be restored.
00:53The breach having occurred, it can never be undone, end quote.
00:58The appeal also claims the judge failed to properly consider alternatives to continued detention,
01:04including releasing the couple on conditions or placing them under house detention, supervised by the Trinidad and Tobago Police Service.
01:12The Hadid's are also challenging the judge's findings that their arrests and subsequent preventive detention orders were likely lawful,
01:21arguing the burden should have rested on the state to justify their continued detention.
01:27In one of the appeal's most serious allegations, the appellants contend Justice Cipersad failed to give adequate weight to evidence
01:35suggesting they were targeted for an improper purpose.
01:38The appeal states, quote,
01:40The executive detention of the claimants was for a declared improper purpose of retaliating against members of an ethnic minority
01:49who were believed to be supporters of the political opponents of the government, end quote.
01:54The appeal further argues the court failed to adequately consider allegations that the arrests, detention, and preventive detention orders were
02:04motivated by bad faith
02:05and political considerations, including statements made during the parliamentary debate on extending the state of emergency.
02:13The Hadid's are asking the court of appeal to urgently hear the matter before July 27th,
02:19set aside Justice Cipersad's ruling, and order their immediate release or alternatively permit their release
02:25under conditions or supervised detention at their private residence while the substantive constitutional challenge proceeds.
02:34Ravishi Tawari Rupnarein, TV6 News.
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