Grauniad:
Day of judgment in the Lords for evicted Chagos islanders
The long-running legal battle between the British government and the Chagos islanders over their eviction from their homes in the Indian Ocean nearly 40 years ago will reach its conclusion in the House of Lords this morning. The law lords will deliver their ruling on whether the surviving islanders have the right to return, after being removed from the archipelago to make way for the base on Diego Garcia.
Nine Chagossians flew in from their current homes in Mauritius yesterday, joining exiles who have settled in Crawley to hear the judgment of Lords Bingham, Hoffman, Rodger, Carswell and Mance.
Today's ruling is the last stage of a lengthy legal battle launched in the name of Olivier Bancoult, one of the evicted islanders, in 1998.
Both the divisional court and the court of appeal have ruled in favour of the Chagossians' right to return to the outer islands, which do not include Diego Garcia, but the Foreign Office appealed against those judgments in the Lords. "We remain hopeful that once and for all there will be a conclusion that will see justice for the Chagossian people," said Bashir Khan of the Chagos Refugees Group UK.........