PORT OF SPAIN, Trinidad (AP) — A High Court judge on Monday granted attorneys representing businessman Dominic Hadeed and his wife, Genevieve Hadeed, access to police station diaries as part of a legal challenge to their detention under Emergency Powers Regulations. The couple was initially held under ordinary police detention powers before becoming the subject of preventative detention orders issued during the current state of emergency. During court proceedings, Senior Counsel Douglas Mendes argued that the detention orders were issued only after a habeas corpus application had been filed on behalf of the couple, raising questions about whether the required legal procedures were properly followed. Attorneys representing the state disputed that claim, maintaining that the relevant orders were issued before the application and were lawfully executed.

Presiding Judge Frank Seepersad said the court's responsibility is to ensure that statutory and constitutional procedures are followed when individuals are deprived of their liberty. The judge ordered disclosure of police station records that could help establish the sequence of events surrounding the detentions and subsequent preventative detention orders. The matter is expected to continue before the court on Tuesday as attorneys seek to determine whether the detentions complied with the emergency regulations and constitutional safeguards governing personal liberty.