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In a judgment delivered on August 21, the British Indian Ocean Territory (BIOT) Court of Appeal upheld the decision of the BIOT Supreme Court to release 47 asylum seekers who had been stranded on the British island of Diego Garcia for more than 1,000 days. The asylum seekers had filed applications for a writ of habeas corpus and a judicial review of their detention, and a hearing was initially scheduled for July last year on Diego Garcia. However, the hearing was cancelled hours before the flight due to threats by the US government to deprive the judge and the asylum seekers’ lawyers of food and water while on the island. The final hearing is now scheduled for September 2024. In its judgment, the court stated ‘Very serious concerns’ It concerns the well-being of all migrants in Diego Garcia, especially children, but does not require imposing solutions or demanding specific actions to resolve the problem.
As of April 2024, 11 of these asylum seekers have been granted a limited form of bail. After their hearings were canceled in July 2024, 47 asylum seekers asked the BIOT Supreme Court to grant them bail in their illegal detention appeals. Although the U.S. government is not a party to these proceedings, it opposed the request citing security concerns. Commissioner of the British Indian Ocean Territory The bail decision was appealed, specifically arguing that the judge did not adequately consider the U.S. government’s objections. However, the BIOT Court of Appeal dismissed the appeal, holding that the judge properly considered the U.S. government’s objections and was entitled to rule that those objections were outweighed by compelling reasons in favor of bail. The court clarified that the U.S. government does not have a veto over the court’s power to release detainees. The BIOT Supreme Court granted bail, allowing the asylum seekers to leave the camp.
In its 19-page judgment, the BIOT Court of Appeal, consisting of Sir Howard Morrison, Justice Clive Lane and Justice Nigel Bird, made worrying observations about the situation of migrants on Diego Garcia. The Court highlighted the lack of progress towards legal remedies for asylum seekers. The Court expressed “very serious concern”* for the well-being of all migrants on Diego Garcia, especially children, but stopped short of imposing a solution or requiring specific action to address the situation. “The lack of progress on any legal remedies available to the accused occurred in the extraordinary context of the Commissioner, the accused, and the United States agreeing that all the accused should leave Diego Garcia as a matter of urgency. The Commissioner appears to have reached this view only after his own protection chief found in June 2024 that children in the camp were “at immediate risk of harm” and that the camp was “in crisis.”stressed the Court of Appeal judge.
The asylum seekers were represented by Mr Jack Boswell and Mr Zoe McCallum, instructed by Duncan Lewis, while the other asylum seekers were represented by Mr Ben Jaffey KC of Blackstone Chambers, instructed by Leigh Day.
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