Alexander releases SoE review tribunal recommendations to detainees

Minister of Homeland Security Roger Alexander. - File photo

HOURS after attorneys revealed that their clients detained under the state of emergency had not received the Review Tribunal recommendations, Homeland Security Minister Roger Alexander provided at least four redacted copies on November 12.

The tribunal’s reports, dated September 12 and 19, stated that the tribunal did not have jurisdiction to review two requests, while reports dated September 27 and October 6 found there was sufficient cause for the detainees’ preventative detention. The tribunal had previously confirmed, in a November 7 release, that it sent six reports to the minister between September and October. A cover letter, signed by the minister, was undated. However, correspondence from the ministry suggested the letter was dated October 31.

Attorney Darren Mitchell, who represents several detainees, said he received the tribunal’s recommendations for his clients and intends to take the matter further. “We fully intend to approach the court for judicial review and constitutionally challenge what we view as the executive’s power to detain people indefinitely,” he said.

Mitchell criticised what he described as the government’s misuse of emergency powers. “No law gives a member of the executive the authority for indefinite detention, not even in war,” he said.

According to Mitchell, “a handful of miscreants in prison created mischief,” prompting the SoE. But, he said it allowed the police commissioner to hide under an umbrella and “not do policing.”

He also questioned the timing of the reports’ release, suggesting it was a deliberate attempt to delay judicial action. “That is a tactical, dirty approach, being engineered by particular persons to have the judicial review time expire,” Mitchell said. He credited the media’s reporting with forcing the release of the documents.

“They are trying to cover because the case law is clear.”

Mitchell also criticised what he called the “silence” of professional bodies. “Where human rights concerns are and where the executive is trying to play a strong hand to rule alone, the Law Association is silent. The Criminal Bar Association is silent,” he said. “Those expected to stand for justice are seemingly acquiescing or partnering with injustice.”

“I think the cat got the tongue of the Law Association, and all the other stakeholders who are supposed to be operating in the interest of justice, in the interest of fundamental rights, even in the interest of national security.

“They are doing nothing and just remaining silent. That’s where we have reached.”

Under the Emergency Powers Regulations, 2025, the tribunal must submit to the minister its opinion on whether a detainee’s continued detention is justified. The detainee must be provided with that portion of the report, while the minister retains discretion on whether to act on the tribunal’s recommendations.

A January 2024 Court of Appeal ruling clarified that a minister’s failure to act on such recommendations is subject to judicial review.

The Ministry of Homeland Security did not respond to questions on whether the remaining tribunal reports — delivered to the minister between September 12 and October 22 — have been forwarded to the other detainees.

On November 7, the tribunal, in a release, pushed back against public criticisms over its handling of preventative detention order reviews. The tribunal was responding to comments by attorneys representing detainees held under the SoE that their clients’ detention had been delayed or withheld.

The tribunal stressed that under paragraph 8(1) of the Schedule to the Emergency Powers Regulations 2025, its role was limited to reviewing detention when requested and preparing a report for the Minister of Homeland Security, not for attorneys or detainees.

The law requires the tribunal’s recommendations and opinion on whether detention should continue to be submitted only to the minister, who must then provide the relevant portion of the report to the detainee.

“It is then for the minister to cause a copy of that part of the report to be delivered to the detainee,” the statement explained.

As it provided the dates on which it forwarded reports to the minister, the tribunal assured,

“The public is therefore assured that the tribunal has performed its functions in accordance with and pursuant to the provisions of the said schedule,” it said, adding that it will continue to review detention cases when applications are properly brought before it.

Attorneys have criticised Police Commissioner Allister Guevarro’s recent support for continued detention under the SoE, saying police are using PDOs as a substitute for proper investigation.

“The police have given up on crime detection investigations and convictions to embrace successful policing. They have found a back door which requires no effort,” Mitchell said on November 11.

On October 31, the government extended the SoE for a second three-month period in Parliament.

So far, some 98 of 156 PDOs have been executed by the police.