The Court of Appeal has retired to consider its decision after hearing competing arguments from the State and attorneys for businessman Dominic Hadeed and his wife, Genevieve Hadeed, over whether they should remain in prison while the State pursues an appeal to the Privy Council.Chief Justice Ronnie Boodoosingh and Justices of Appeal Mark Mohammed and Ricky Rahim retired shortly before 6 p.m. to consider the matter after hearing several hours of submissions.The ruling will determine whether the interim stay granted on Thursday night remains in place, or whether the Hadeeds will be released under the strict house arrest conditions ordered by a differently constituted Court of Appeal.Appearing virtually from England, King's Counsel Sir James Eadie, for the State, urged the court to maintain the stay.He advanced three principal arguments.First, Eadie said the State intends to file its appeal to the Privy Council on Monday and expects the matter to be heard as early as next week.Second, he argued that if the stay were lifted before then, the leave granted by the Court of Appeal on Thursday night allowing the State to pursue the Privy Council appeal would effectively become meaningless.He submitted that keeping the Hadeeds in custody for a few more days would cause them little prejudice compared with the prejudice the State would suffer if they were released before the appeal is heard.Third, Eadie argued that the allegations involve an ongoing conspiracy to assassinate Prime Minister Kamla Persad-Bissessar and other senior Government officials.He submitted that even if the Hadeeds were confined to house arrest under the conditions imposed by Thursday's Court of Appeal ruling, which required them to surrender their communication devices and restricted contact with the outside world, they could still communicate indirectly and continue the alleged conspiracy.Senior Counsel Douglas Mendes, appearing for the Hadeeds, urged the court to discharge the interim stay, arguing that there was no evidence justifying their continued imprisonment.Mendes relied on fresh affidavit evidence from a doctor who examined Dominic Hadeed on Friday morning, detailing what he described as Hadeed's deteriorating medical condition.He also challenged new affidavit evidence filed by Minister of Homeland Security Roger Alexander on Thursday afternoon.According to the affidavits, Alexander relied on intelligence alleging that Genevieve Hadeed had been communicating with two persons of interest connected to the alleged conspiracy.Mendes told the court that investigations had established that the two individuals were a security guard employed by the Hadeeds and a Mayaro businessman involved in the energy sector and charitable work.He said the security guard had spoken to police on the day of the Hadeeds' arrest on June 24, voluntarily provided his telephone number and was interviewed by investigators.The second individual, Mendes said, was known for charitable work with underprivileged children, had received donations from State agencies and had invited members of the judiciary to speak at various functions.Both men, he said, had filed affidavits explaining who they were and the nature of their association with the Hadeeds.Mendes argued that if this was the intelligence on which the Minister and the State relied to justify the Preventive Detention Orders, it fell far short of establishing the alleged conspiracy."If this is their silver bullet," Mendes submitted, "there is nothing of substance to justify keeping the Hadeeds in custody."The panel reserved its decision after hearing the submissions.On Thursday, a differently constituted Court of Appeal ruled that the Government could not rely on broad assertions of national security to justify preventive detention without providing sufficient factual particulars and ordered that the Hadeeds be released under strict house arrest conditions.Hours later, however, Chief Justice Boodoosingh and Justices Mohammed and Rahim granted the State an interim stay preventing their release while it sought permission to appeal to the Privy Council.The Hadeeds have been detained since June 24 under Preventive Detention Orders alleging they were involved in a conspiracy to assassinate Prime Minister Kamla Persad-Bissessar, Attorney General John Jeremie and other senior Government officials. They have not been charged with any criminal offence.