00:00Just one day after appealing a high court ruling refusing their release, Dominic and Genevieve Hadid were back before the
00:08courts.
00:08Appearing via video link from prison, the couple spent more than five hours before Justice Vigil Paul as their attorneys
00:16pressed for urgent intervention over Dominic Hadid's deteriorating health.
00:20The Hadids have been detained since June 24th under preventive detention orders issued during the state of emergency.
00:28Authorities have alleged intelligence links the couple to conspiracy to assassinate Prime Minister Kamala Pesad-Besasa, Attorney General John Jeremy
00:37and other senior government officials.
00:40However, neither Dominic nor Genevieve Hadid have been charged with any criminal offense.
00:45On Tuesday, the couple also appealed Justice Frank C. Pesad's decision, refusing to order their release pending the determination of
00:54their constitutional challenge.
00:56But Wednesday's hearing focused largely on Dominic Hadid's medical condition.
01:00In a certificate of urgency filed before the court, his attorneys warn that continued detention poses a serious risk to
01:08his health.
01:09The certificate reads, quote,
01:10The conditions of detention have prevented him from receiving the long-standing medical care, with the result that there is
01:19a real possibility of long-term permanent damage to his health and real risk to his life, end quote.
01:25The filing says Hadid suffers from Charcot-Marie-Tooth disease, a progressive neurological disorder requiring daily physiotherapy, as well as
01:36chronic lymphocytic lymphoma, a form of blood cancer that has left him immunocompromised.
01:42His attorneys also say he suffers from chronic thrombocytopenia, increasing his risk of severe bleeding.
01:49They argue the prison environment has worsened those conditions, with the certificate of urgency saying that he is presently held
01:56in unsanitary conditions.
01:59The application also claims Hadid has been unable to consistently use the medically prescribed CPAP machine he relies on each
02:07night for sleep, placing his health at further risk.
02:11However, the proceedings took a procedural turn after Justice Paul upheld objections from state attorneys, ruling that portions of an
02:19affidavit from Hadid's longtime physician relied on reports from specialists at the Mayo Clinic and amounted to hearsay.
02:28The judge also noted no application had been filed, asking the court to recognize the doctor as an expert witness.
02:36Senior counsel Douglas Mendez then sought time to correct that issue by filing the necessary application and additional medical evidence.
02:45Tensions later flared when the state indicated it intended to file an application seeking to strike out additional portions of
02:52the claimant's evidence.
02:54Mendez accused the state of deliberately slowing the proceedings, with senior counsel Mendez saying, quote,
02:59They are delaying in the hope that we do not get a result before the state of emergency is in
03:05existence.
03:06The state is using the rules against my client to keep them in detention, end quote.
03:11The state rejected that allegation insisting any delays resulted from deficiencies in the claimant's evidence and not any attempt to
03:19frustrate the case.
03:20Justice Paul declined to immediately fast track the constitutional challenge, but granted the Hadid's permission to apply to have their
03:27doctor recognized as an expert witness.
03:30The state has until July 16th to file its strikeout application, with a matter scheduled to return to court on
03:38July 17th.
03:40Meanwhile, the couple's appeal against Justice Frank Sipisar's refusal to order their release remains before the Court of Appeal.
03:47You can read more on this story in Tomorrow's Express by Rikki Ramdas.
03:51Arvashita Wari Rupnarain, TV6 News.
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