Diego Garcia Islanders lose bid to return home

The House of Lords upheld an appeal from the Government and ruled that orders banning the inhabitants of the Islands from ever returning had been lawful.

This remote archipelago, forming the British Indian Ocean Territory, was cleared of all 2,000 inhabitants between 1966 and 1973. This allowed the construction of a large American air and naval base on the largest island, Diego Garcia.

After being removed to Mauritius and the Seychelles, the islanders began a legal battle to win the right to return. They won their first case in the High Court in 2000 – and the Government accepted this ruling and declined to appeal.

But Diego Garcia assumed far greater military importance after the terrorist attacks on Sept 11. It served as a crucial base for the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq. In 2004, Jack Straw, then foreign secretary, reversed official policy and issued a new order preventing the islanders from going home.

This decision was then overturned in the High Court. Last year, the Foreign Office took the case to the Court of Appeal - only to lose again. The Government went to the House of Lords and asked for the rulings of both the High Court and the Court of Appeal to be overturned.

The Foreign Office has now won this battle by 3 – 2. More