Paradise islanders challenge exile ruling

Judgment was being given at the High Court today in an action brought by more than 5,000 Indian Ocean islanders over their "unlawful" exile from their paradise home.

The case follows an historic ruling in November 2000 when two judges said that there was "no source of lawful authority" to justify the way that the inhabitants of the Chagos Islands had been moved to Mauritius and the Seychelles in the late 1960s and early 1970s.

They quashed the 1971 Immigration Ordinance, which was enacted to give legal authority to the scheme - which cleared the way for construction of the US military base on Diego Garcia.

The current action on behalf of surviving Chagossians or their dependants is aimed at recovering as yet unquantified compensation, restitution of property and declarations relating to the entitlement to return to the islands and measures facilitating such a move.

Mr Justice Ouseley, sitting in London, will rule on the preliminary issue of liability and whether the case can proceed against the Attorney General, on behalf of the government, and Her Majesty's Commissioner for the British Indian Ocean Territory.

Counsel Robin Allen QC said during the hearing that the displaced islanders were "totally destitute" as they had no skills beyond those in relation to coconuts and Mauritius had no coconut industry and 20% unemployment.

He said that the essence of the government's case was that the Chagossians, who had lived and worked there for generations, only ever had contractual right to the islands.

It was argued that these could be terminated on very short notice so that individuals could be dispatched elsewhere on a private law basis.