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n1 [soylentnews.org] writes:

Chagos islanders, forcibly removed from their homes in 1971, have lost a legal challenge at the supreme court that could have speeded up their return.

In a majority ruling, justices at the UK’s highest court said failure to disclose key Foreign Office documents would not have altered the outcome of a key House of Lords judgment in 2008.

Delivering the judgment, Lord Mance said there was “no probability” that a court would have, if it had seen the papers, made a different decision.

In 2004, the Chagossians’ right of abode on the British Indian Ocean Territory was removed partially on the basis of a feasibility study, examining how they could be settled, which was never presented to the original hearing.

About 1,500 islanders were removed to make way for the US base on Diego Garcia, the largest island, in 1971. Under a deal, kept secret at the time, the US agreed to contribute to the costs of establishing the bases and waive the UK’s payments for joint missile development programmes.

[...] Bancoult, who was forced into exile along with his family when he was four years old, said: “It’s impossible to accept that other people can live in our birthplace but we can’t. Chagossians will be on Chagos very soon. We want to be allowed to return. We implore the British government to go ahead with the exercise to allow us to go back to our homeland.”

[...] A spokeswoman for the Foreign Office said: “We are pleased that the supreme court was clear that additional documents would have not made any difference to the outcome of the case in 2008 and ruled in favour of the UK government.

“We remain committed to our current review of resettlement and will continue to keep parliament, Chagossians and their supporters closely informed of progress on the issue.”

Source: The Guardian [theguardian.com]

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