By Curtis Williams and Sarah Morland
July 7 (Reuters) – Businessman Dominic Hadeed and his wife Genevieve filed an appeal on Tuesday against their detention over an alleged plot to assassinate top members of the Trinidad and Tobago government, including Prime Minister Kamla Persad-Bissessar.
Hadeed, who owns the Trinidad and Tobago-based Blue Waters bottled water and filtration supplier, is accused of conspiring to assassinate the prime minister, attorney general and other members of government.
He and his wife have denied the accusations and argued their detention constituted political retaliation against members of an ethnic minority believed to support the opposition.
“There is no and can be no evidence of any plot by the Claimants to murder any person because there was no such plot,” they said in the appeal filing, adding they have never previously been accused or convicted of any crime.
Trinidad and Tobago declared a state of emergency in March, as a response against organized crime in the country. Hadeed said his criticism of the measure led to state retaliation.
The prime minister’s office did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Hadeed is of Syrian origin and is part of the Caribbean nation’s Syrian-Lebanese community. In the appeal, his lawyers argue that government officials referred to members of that community derogatorily as the “one percent” and suggested they were involved in white-collar criminal activity.
Hadeed and his wife were arrested at their home in late June under an emergency powers provision and have been transferred to the Port of Spain Remand Yard and the Maximum Security Women’s Prison, respectively, pending a hearing on July 27.
(Reporting by Curtis Williams in Houston and Sarah Morland in Mexico City; Editing by Kylie Madry)
