CHAGOS exiles' ruling overturned
Exiled residents of the
Chagos Islands have had the right to return to their Indian Ocean homeland overturned by the House of Lords.
The government won its appeal against a court decision that had ruled in favour of 2,000 former residents of the British overseas territory.
The Law Lords decision is the final judgement in the long-running case.
The former residents were evicted from the islands between 1967 and 1971 as part of a secret deal with the US.
In 2000, High Court judges ruled that Chagossians could return to 65 of the islands.
In 2004 the government used the royal prerogative - exercised by ministers in the Queen's name - to effectively nullify the decision.
Last year, the court overturned that order and rejected the government argument that the royal prerogative was immune from scrutiny. The government had asked the Lords to rule on the issue.
The exiled residents had hoped that if the Law Lords ruling had gone in their favour, their heritage could be rebuilt around a new tourist industry.
Story from BBC NEWS:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/2/h...ws/7683726.stm
Published: 2008/10/22 09:16:33 GMT
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