Appeal court judges have backed a decision that dozens of asylum seekers were unlawfully detained on one of the world’s most remote islands, rejecting an appeal on Tuesday by the commissioner for the territory.
Exactly a year ago, on 16 December 2024, a judge ruled that Tamils who arrived on the island of Diego Garcia, a UK and US military base, after a shipwreck while they were trying to reach Canada to seek asylum, were unlawfully detained there for three years in conditions described as “hell on Earth”.
The British Indian Ocean Territory (BIOT) commissioner, Nishi Dholakia, lodged an appeal in the territory’s court of appeal that the Tamils were not unlawfully detained on the island. But all four grounds of his appeal were rejected by judges in their judgment handed down in a London court. They found that evidence presented by the commissioner to support his appeal was “a highly selective exercise”.
After the unlawful detention finding last year that was upheld on Tuesday, the British government could face a bill of millions of pounds in damages for unlawfully detaining more than 60 people for such a long period.
Diego Garcia, halfway between Tanzania and Indonesia, has beaches of white sand surrounded by turquoise seas and dense forests of coconut palms.
But the conditions for the asylum seekers were less favourable. They were accommodated in rat-infested tents, largely deprived of their liberty.
Margaret Obi, the acting judge of the BIOT supreme court, found last December that they had been unlawfully detained. In her ruling, she said: “It is unsurprising that the claimants feel as if they are in a prison; that is exactly what it is, in all but name.”
The Leigh Day solicitor Tom Short, representing some of the Tamils, welcomed Tuesday’s ruling: “The BIOT court of appeal’s ruling today that the commissioner unlawfully detained our clients for over three years in a fenced and guarded camp in conditions that amounted to a prison, is full vindication of the judgment made earlier by Ms Justice Obi after a full trial on the island of Diego Garcia,” he said. “The court has found that the commissioner intended to confine our clients – including 16 children – in this way and that he had no justification for doing so. His attempt to rewrite history has failed.”
Simon Robinson, of Duncan Lewis solicitors, also representing some of the clients, said: “We welcome the judgment of the court of appeal dismissing the commissioner’s appeal on all grounds. Their unlawful detention was at a cost of £108,000 a day to the UK taxpayer. The substantial damages which will now be owed, add to these costs. These costs escalated because of the egregious delay by the home secretary and foreign secretary in agreeing to end their detention and relocate them.”
A spokesperson for the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office, said: “The BIOT commissioner appealed the initial judgment on several grounds. Diego Garcia has never been a suitable location for migrants, and this was a highly unique situation where safety was carefully considered throughout.
“It is now for the BIOT administration to study the judgment carefully, and to consider next steps. However, this is clearly not the outcome we wanted.”
