Hadeeds win house arrest ruling — but are still behind bars

The legal battle moved through multiple courts in under four weeks, producing conflicting rulings at almost every stage.

• Dominic Hadeed, 52, and Genevieve Hadeed, 42, were arrested on June 24, 2026, along with a 69-year-old relative, Star Sabga, after police executed search warrants at their homes and offices based on intelligence from a national security organisation alleging a conspiracy to assassinate government officials — allegations the Hadeeds firmly deny.
• Preventive Detention Orders were issued by Homeland Security Minister Roger Alexander under Emergency Powers Regulations tied to Trinidad and Tobago's state of emergency, with PDOs alleging Dominic Hadeed had 'substantial financial means and influence with the resources, access and capability to facilitate serious organised criminal activity.'
• High Court Justice Frank Seepersad refused interim release on June 30, ordering the Hadeeds to pay costs for the habeas corpus application, prompting an urgent appeal filed July 7; the appellate panel of Justices Peter Rajkumar, Mira Dean-Armorer, and Joan Charles reserved judgment until 8 a.m. July 16.
• The Court of Appeal ruled in favour of the Hadeeds on July 16, ordering immediate release from Golden Grove Prison into house arrest at their Pine Avenue, Bayshore, Westmoorings home, with conditions including surrender of all passports, travel documents, firearms, and communication devices, electronic ankle monitoring, and no contact with anyone outside the residence without prior approval from the Commissioner of Police.
• Hours after the ruling, the State secured an emergency stay from a separate panel — Chief Justice Ronnie Boodoosingh and Justices Mark Mohammed and Ricky Rahim — halting the release; prison officers had already declined to free the couple before the stay was formally granted, with Special Branch vehicles turned away at the gates.
• The CJ's panel granted final leave for the State to appeal to the UK-based Privy Council — unopposed by the Hadeeds' legal team — and scheduled further submissions on the stay for 3 p.m. the following day.

The Hadeeds' continued confinement — first in prison, now in legal limbo — leaves their three children, aged 17, 15, and 12, separated from both parents while courts above the Court of Appeal weigh in. Dominic Hadeed's medical conditions, including sleep apnoea requiring a CPAP machine, remain a live welfare concern.

For Trinidad and Tobago's Syrian-Lebanese business community, the case has deepened anxiety about the reach of emergency detention powers against perceived political opponents. The broader constitutional challenge — alleging the SoE extension was designed to target an ethnic minority and punish a critic of government policy — now heads toward the Privy Council, a process that could define the limits of executive detention across the Caribbean for years.

Blue Waters' operations and the Hadeeds' other business interests face prolonged uncertainty, and the reputational stakes for all parties rise with each day the case commands regional and international attention.

What to watch: • The outcome of the 3 p.m. hearing before Chief Justice Boodoosingh's panel on whether the interim stay on the house-arrest order is maintained or lifted. • The Privy Council's timetable for hearing the State's appeal — and separately, its pending judgment in the 2011 SoE legality case, which involves materially identical regulations. • Whether Homeland Security Minister Roger Alexander moves to maintain or vary the PDOs in light of evolving court orders, and whether the SoE Review Tribunal recommendations compel any change in the State's position.

"Trinidad and Tobago has spent about 10 of the past 14 months in a state of emergency."

— The Times (UK) / Reuters-derived reporting

Cant hold a person on intelligence & don't charge , that's abuse of powers - David Roberts on Facebook

I'm happy for them!....let justice, now take its course....if there's enough evidence to substantiate the alleged crime they committed, then charge them accordingly. Nerissa Dqueen on Facebook

At least now there is a precedent for the small man thankful for the Court of Appeal intervening it helps all persons held under the PDOs currently where no real particulars are given for detention. We need the written judgment - Shalini Sankar on Facebook

This should be apply to all prisoners who have not been charged under the PDO - Nicole Newton on Facebook

It was only a matter of time, no charges were laid so whoever you are it still remains innocent until proven guilty. - Portia Rousseau on Facebook

The Hadeeds' legal team argues detention without disclosed, testable evidence is constitutionally impermissible and politically motivated.: Mendes contended that reliance on undisclosed intelligence from an unnamed agency, combined with Attorney General John Jeremie's parliamentary statements targeting 'the one per cent' and a Bayshore resident, demonstrated the PDOs were issued for an improper purpose. The team alleges police station diary entries were falsified and that the couple's wealth and ethnicity — not evidence — drove the decision.

The State maintains national security imperatives justify non-disclosure and that the minister acted on a credible, independently assessed threat.: Eadie argued Justice Seepersad's original reasoning was entirely correct, that sensitive intelligence cannot be disclosed in open proceedings, and that the minister — not the court — bears ultimate responsibility if a genuine threat is released and materialises. The State's successful late-night stay application signals its determination to take the case to the highest level.

Regional civil liberties observers see the case as a critical test of whether Caribbean emergency powers can withstand judicial scrutiny when deployed against individuals rather than organised crime.: The Hadeeds' constitutional claim — that the SoE extension was weaponised against an ethnic minority and a perceived opposition financier — raises questions that extend well beyond Trinidad and Tobago, given that other Caribbean states have used or expanded emergency detention frameworks in response to gang violence.

"You cannot say I cannot disclose the reasons, but I am still going to use it against you."

— Douglas Mendes SC, Lead counsel for the Hadeeds, via Trinidad and Tobago Guardian