PORT OF SPAIN — Two Trinidad and Tobago business executives remained in preventive detention on Sunday after a High Court judge declined to order their release, as authorities pursued an investigation into allegations that they were involved in a conspiracy to assassinate senior government officials during the country's ongoing state of emergency.
Businessman Dominic Hadeed and his wife, Genevieve Hadeed, are being held under Preventive Detention Orders (PDOs) issued under the Emergency Powers Regulations, 2026. A relative, Star Sabga, was also detained under a separate order. The detentions followed their arrests in late June after investigators obtained search warrants linked to an alleged conspiracy to commit murder.
According to the detention orders and court filings cited by local and regional media, intelligence received by the authorities allegedly identified Dominic Hadeed as participating in a conspiracy to assassinate Prime Minister Kamla Persad-Bissessar and other senior members of the government. Genevieve Hadeed's detention order contains similar allegations, including claims that she made statements advocating the deaths of the prime minister and other officials. The allegations have not been tested in court, and no criminal convictions have resulted from the claims.
Justice Frank Seepersad dismissed the couple's habeas corpus application, ruling that their detention under the emergency regulations was lawful at that stage of the proceedings, according to court reports. The decision left the Preventive Detention Orders in force while legal challenges continue.
The government has retained British King's Counsel Sir James Eadie and Robert Strang to represent the state in the legal proceedings involving the Hadeeds. Officials have argued that the emergency powers are necessary to address serious threats posed by organized crime and national security risks.
The Hadeeds' legal team has challenged both the legality of the detention orders and the conditions in which the couple were initially held, arguing that the measures are unjustified. Their lawyers have denied the allegations on their behalf and continue to seek judicial review of the government's actions.
Trinidad and Tobago has spent much of the past year under successive states of emergency as authorities sought to curb gang violence and organized crime. The government has said intelligence operations remain active and has defended the continued use of emergency powers, while opposition politicians and civil liberties advocates have questioned the necessity and scope of the measures.
The investigation remains ongoing, and no trial date or formal criminal proceedings on the alleged assassination conspiracy had been announced as of July 6.
