Ban on living on Chagos Islands is LAWFUL, court rules months after nine landed on outer islets

A ban on living on the Chagos Islands is lawful, a court has ruled, months after a group of people landed on the outer islets of the archipelago.

In March, the British Indian Ocean Territory (BIOT) Supreme Court had ruled that part of a 2004 law which removed the rights of the Chagossian people to enter and remain on the outer islands was unlawful.

The ruling came just weeks after a group of nine people - including four Chagossians and former Tory MP Adam Holloway - landed on the Ile Du Coin, which lies 135 miles north of David Garcia.

Despite the group being ordered to leave the islands, four members of the group - Louis Misley Mandarin, Louis Michael Mandarin, Louis Lemettre and Guy Castel - took legal action against the commissioner of the BIOT.

However, at the BIOT Court of Appeal on Tuesday, judges - Sir Howard Morrisson, Mr Justice Lane, Mrs Justice Nott, Mrs Justice Plimmer and Mr Justice Bird - said the BIOT Supreme Court did not have the power to quash the law regarding the islanders' right of abode.

They instead ruled that any challenge to the law should have been directed against the Foreign Office in the High Court in England.

Mr Justice Lane argued that James Lewis KC, who had made the previous ruling at the BIOT Supreme Court, “fell into error”, arguing his interpretation of the law “might readily result in administrative chaos”.

He said: “A dissatisfied litigant before the High Court of England and Wales could simply try his luck before the BIOT courts.

“In the event of different outcomes in different courts, it would be unclear which should be followed.”

Mr Justice Lane also said Judge Lewis' findings “were plainly not available to him on the evidence”.

Under section nine of the 2004 law, no-one - including the native Chagossian people - is “entitled to enter or be present in” the archipelago without permission.

Following Tuesday's ruling, James Tumbridge, the lawyer acting on behalf of the islanders, said: "We fight on."

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He continued: “The appeal was successful meaning the government won, mainly because they said the BIOT court cannot make the decision on right of abode, only an English court can do that say the BIOT Court of Appeal.

"Last week the judge in the English Court of Appeal when told the ‘appeal’ was successful, immediately remarked this is going to the Privy Council. A very positive reaction. Lady Justice Andrews was the judge.

“In BIOT cases, above the Court of Appeal you go to the Privy Council. It is the Commonwealth Supreme Court, and equivalent to the UK Supreme Court, the judges are the same in both.

“I already asked the Government to consent that a stay is kept in place pending the appeal so that no changes happen on island. Our appeal application is under way.

"I have asked the Government to consent to the Privy Council having the case, they will not agree I suspect but I have asked.”

The ruling comes just weeks after Wes Streeting confirmed Labour will push ahead with negotiations to hand over the Chagos Islands to Mauritius.

Mr Streeting, who said he was looking at the issue "with a fresh pair of eyes", told MPs that the legal risk means Andy Burnham's Government still needs to resolve the issue.

Sir Keir Starmer's Government already agreed to cede control of the BIOT in exchange for securing the continued operation of the joint US-UK military base on Diego Garcia.

The deal was supposed to cost £165million a year in the first three years of a 99-year deal, dropping to £120million annually from year four.

However, critics warn the deal could spiral to an eye-watering £35billion.

The agreement was left hanging by a thread in April after President Donald Trump pulled American support, branding it an "act of total weakness" and "terrible".