Government could face a huge bill for damages after keeping more than 60 asylum seekers in ‘hellish’ conditions. Dozens of asylum seekers stranded on one of the most remote islands in the world in conditions described as “hell on earth” were unlawfully detained there by the UK for three years, a judge has found.
The government could now face a bill of millions in damages for unlawfully detaining more than 60 people for such a long period. More than 60 Tamil asylum seekers became stranded on the tropical island of Diego Garcia – halfway between Tanzania and Indonesia in the Indian Ocean – in October 2021 after their boat sprung a leak.
En route to Canada where they hoped to claim asylum, they were rescued by the British navy, which is part of a military presence on the UK territory. The US leases land from the UK on the island for a strategically sensitive military base. The asylum seekers hoped to get their boat repaired and continue on their journey after a few days on the island, which has white sands surrounded by turquoise seas and dense forests of coconut palms.
Instead they remained in rat-infested tents, largely deprived of their liberty. At the beginning of December this year, UK ministers finally agreed to airlift all but three of them who have criminal cases to the UK. The ruling, hailed by lawyers for the stranded asylum seekers as “a victory for justice”, was made by Margaret Obi, the acting judge of the supreme court of the British Indian Ocean Territory.
