Court backs ruling that UK unlawfully detained Tamils on Diego Garcia

An aerial view of Diego Garcia, the largest island of the Chagos archipelago, in the Indian Ocean. Photograph: AP

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”.