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The State of Emergency Review Tribunal has pushed back against public criticism over its handling of Preventive Detention Order (PDO) reviews, saying recent statements reported in the media are “misinformed” and do not reflect the legal process it is required to follow.

In a statement on November 7, the tribunal said it had taken note of comments attributed to attorneys representing detainees held under the state of emergency who claimed that decisions on their clients’ detention had been delayed or withheld.

The tribunal described the claims as regrettable, particularly because they came from members of the legal profession “from whom one would expect responsible utterances informed by the facts and the law.”