No evidence, no charge: Trinidad judge orders Star Sabga's release

Justice Vigel Paul delivered his oral ruling around 5:20 pm.

• Sabga was detained on or about June 25, 2026, the day after her relatives Dominic and Genevieve Hadeed were arrested as part of an investigation into an alleged plot to assassinate Prime Minister Kamla Persad-Bissessar and other senior Government officials; a Preventive Detention Order was subsequently signed against her by Homeland Security Minister Roger Alexander during the ongoing State of Emergency.
• Justice Paul ruled that a serious issue existed to be tried, that the balance of convenience favoured interim relief, and — crucially — that 'the mere assertion of a threat to national security does not usurp the powers of the court'; he noted Sabga is a woman of good character and found an absence of evidence placing her in any conspiracy.
• The judge observed that, based on the material before him, the alleged conspiracy effectively ended with the intercepted phone conversation relied upon by the State, and that the judge could not see how continued detention of this elderly applicant was necessary to disrupt the alleged conspiracy — particularly given that the alleged co-conspirators, the Hadeeds, had already been released after their own PDOs were revoked by Minister Alexander on or about July 22.
• Sabga was escorted by police to her Regents Park, Westmoorings home shortly before midnight; under the court's conditions, according to reporting by Loop Trinidad and Tobago, she must remain confined to her residence under police supervision, surrender her passport and all electronic devices, leave only for medical emergencies, and restrict communications to attorneys, medical personnel, and approved family members.
• Sabga has not been charged with any offence; her Preventive Detention Order remains formally in effect, and the State's application for a further stay pending its appeal was scheduled to be heard by the Court of Appeal at 3:00 p.m. the following day.
• The intercepted audio recording that authorities used as a basis for the PDOs — in which derogatory racial language directed at the Prime Minister was used — was leaked publicly and is now under separate police investigation, with former national security officials describing the leak itself as one of the gravest breaches of national security in the country's history.

Sabga's court-ordered release sets a significant precedent for the limits of executive detention power during a State of Emergency in Trinidad and Tobago: a High Court has now found, at least at the interim stage, that national security assertions alone are insufficient to override constitutional rights without supporting evidence. 

For the Sabga and Hadeed families, all three PDO detainees have now left prison without charges, though legal jeopardy persists. 

For the broader business community — particularly the Syrian-Lebanese minority associated with the 'one per cent' designation — the case has amplified anxieties about targeted surveillance and ethnic profiling under emergency powers. 

Prime Minister Persad-Bissessar has confirmed the assassination plot investigation has expanded to multiple foreign jurisdictions, meaning the case's political and legal reach will extend well beyond T&T's courts. 

The leaked audio scandal adds a parallel accountability crisis: if state intelligence agencies cannot safeguard intercepted communications, public trust in the legitimacy of emergency-era surveillance powers is severely undermined.

What to watch: • The Court of Appeal hearing on the State's application for a stay pending its appeal of Justice Paul's release order — scheduled for 3:00 p.m. the day after Sabga's release — and any subsequent ruling on whether her house arrest conditions are modified or tightened. • The outcome of Sabga's full constitutional challenge against the Preventive Detention Order, which will test the legality and proportionality of executive detention powers under the Emergency Powers Regulations 2026. • The police investigation into the leak of the intercepted audio recording, and whether the Director of the Strategic Services Agency or Homeland Security Minister Roger Alexander face accountability measures as demanded by former security officials.

"PM Persad-Bissessar confirmed that multiple foreign intelligence and investigative agencies are involved in the expanded assassination plot probe, with new persons, financial institutions and businesses identified across multiple jurisdictions."

— Prime Minister Kamla Persad-Bissessar, as reported by CNC3

The judiciary acted correctly in checking executive overreach: Justice Paul's ruling makes clear that courts retain jurisdiction to grant interim relief even in national security matters, and that evidence — not assertion — must justify deprivation of liberty. His finding that the alleged conspiracy 'ended with that conversation' signals deep judicial scepticism about the evidentiary basis for Sabga's continued detention.

The audio leak represents a catastrophic and potentially criminal failure of state intelligence: Both former ministers argue that the unauthorised disclosure of intercepted communications is a criminal offence under the Interception of Communications Act and that the SSA Director and Homeland Security Minister should be held personally accountable. 

The State maintains the investigation is serious, expanding, and ongoing: Despite revoking all three PDOs, the State insists the assassination plot investigation remains active, has grown in complexity, and now spans multiple foreign jurisdictions with international agency involvement. The Government continues to pursue an appellate remedy against Sabga's release order.

"There must be evidence of conspiring not just two women venting among themselves. Worse is said on political haustings everyday. It is practically a thought crime."

— Rishi Dass SC, Lead attorney for Star Sabga, via Trinidad and Tobago Newsday