Appeal court judges have backed a decision that dozens of asylum seekers were unlawfully detained on Diego Garcia, rejecting an appeal by the British Indian Ocean Territory (BIOT) commissioner. The ruling, handed down in London on Tuesday, upholds a December 2024 judgment that Tamils who arrived on the island after a shipwreck were unlawfully held for three years in conditions described as 'hell on Earth'.
The BIOT commissioner, Nishi Dholakia, had appealed on four grounds, but all were dismissed. Judges found that evidence presented by the commissioner was 'a highly selective exercise'. The Tamils, who were trying to reach Canada to seek asylum, were accommodated in rat-infested tents and largely deprived of their liberty on the remote island, which hosts a UK and US military base.
Margaret Obi, acting judge of the BIOT supreme court, had previously ruled that the detention was unlawful, stating: '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 British government could now face a bill of millions of pounds in damages for unlawfully detaining more than 60 people, including 16 children.
Tom Short, a solicitor from Leigh Day representing some of the Tamils, welcomed the ruling, calling it 'full vindication'. Simon Robinson of Duncan Lewis solicitors noted that the detention cost £108,000 a day, adding: 'The substantial damages which will now be owed add to these costs.' A Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office spokesperson said the outcome was 'clearly not the outcome we wanted' and that the BIOT administration would study the judgment carefully.
