A prominent Syrian businessman and his wife are being held in prison in Trinidad and Tobago after being accused of plotting to assassinate the country’s Prime Minister and other senior politicians.
Dominic Hadeed, 52, and his wife, Genevieve, 42, were arrested and each issued with Preventive Detention Order (PDO), which are part of the national state of emergency declared in face of surging gang violence. Also detained was Ms Hadeed’s aunt, Star Sabga, 69.
The UK’s Foreign Commonwealth and Development Office reported recently that in Trinidad and Tobago 180 criminal gangs are operating and are responsible for a third of all murders in the country.
A prominent British barrister, Sir James Eadie, has been hired by the country to prosecute the couple and arrived in the Caribbean nation on Thursday. Sir James acts as the UK's First Treasury Counsel, informally known as the Treasury Devil, the barrister who the government turns to first for advice and litigation.
Mr Hadeed’s family moved from Syria to Trinidad and Tobago and he founded Blue Water, the Caribbean’s largest bottled water manufacturer. His wife last year was re-elected president of the country’s Syrian-Lebanese Women’s Association.
According to the PDO, Mr Hadeed had been “credibly identified through intelligence” as being involved in a conspiracy to assassinate senior members of the government and members of parliament, the Trinidad and Tobago Guardian reported.
Following a debate in parliament about extending the state of emergency, Mr Hadeed is alleged to have “expressed violent intentions by stating words to the effect that persons would be shot in their head”.
The order described him as having “substantial financial means and influence with the resources, access and capability to facilitate serious organised criminal activity”.
Ms Hadeed called for the death of Prime Minister Kamla Persad-Bissessar, government members and MPs after the debate on the extension of the state of emergency, according to the PDO.
During the debate about extending the state of emergency, Attorney General John Jeremie said the government would pursue white-collar criminals and those who facilitate organised crime.
He mentioned the “1 per cent”, a term used to refer to the 5,000-strong community of Syrians and Lebanese in Trinidad and Tobago.
It entered popular parlance after featuring in an episode of Anthony Bourdain: Parts Unknown that was filmed in Trinidad and Tobago. One of the interviewees, Mario Sabga-Aboud, a member of the island's Syrian-Lebanese community, used the term but later apologised for the comment after a backlash.
Immigrants from the region were the last major group to settle in Trinidad and Tobago. They began arriving around the beginning of the last century, attracted by the islands' trading opportunities, and many went on to establish businesses.
The Hadeed and Sabga familes are closely connected and have intermarried across generations.
Mr Jeremie's comments drew criticism from businessman Gary Aboud, who warned many in the Syrian-Lebanese community may leave if they are targeted.
The Hadeeds' lawyer, Faris Al Rawi, told a court hearing that at 6.15am on June 24, officers arrived at the couple’s home to arrest them. Firearms and ammunition were later seized.
After her arrest, Ms Hadeed was held in a cockroach-infested police cell measuring 2.5 metres by 1.8 metres, with no bedding or furniture, a hole in the floor used as a toilet and no running water, said Mr Al Rawi. Ms Sabga was curled up on the floor.
Mr Hadeed was forced to sleep on a bare concrete slab without access to electricity needed to operate a machine required to treat his sleep apnea, leaving him unable to sleep.
The couple are now being held in the maximum security Golden Grove Prison after losing a bid to be freed. It is unclear if Ms Sabga is still being detained.
Trinidad and Tobago has spent about 10 of the past 14 months in a state of emergency, with the latest declared in March.
Ms Persad-Bissessar said the country’s National Security Council has noted that ongoing crime has led to “multiple deaths due to mass shootings and that the continuance of reprisal shootings amongst criminal gangs, if left unchecked, would endanger public safety”.
