NTA leader criticises Court of Appeal’s stay in Hadeed matter

Na­tion­al Trans­for­ma­tion Al­liance (NTA) leader Nor­man Din­di­al says the Court of Ap­peal’s de­ci­sion to grant a stay in the Hadeed mat­ter rais­es se­ri­ous con­cerns about the sep­a­ra­tion of pow­ers and the use of pre­ven­tive de­ten­tion or­ders (PDOs) dur­ing the State of Emer­gency.

In a state­ment fol­low­ing Thurs­day’s rul­ing, which was up­held yes­ter­day, Din­di­al said the State had de­tained the Hadeeds for weeks with­out charge un­der emer­gency pow­ers, be­fore the Court of Ap­peal ruled they should be re­leased un­der strict house ar­rest.

How­ev­er, in an emer­gency sit­ting late Thurs­day, an­oth­er ap­pel­late pan­el, led by Chief Jus­tice Ron­nie Boodoos­ingh, agreed to stay the ear­li­er rul­ing and up­held that de­ci­sion yes­ter­day, af­ter lawyers for the State made ar­gu­ments on why the Hadeeds should re­main in de­ten­tion un­til the Privy Coun­cil rules on the court’s de­ci­sion to place them un­der house ar­rest.