US blocks British judge

She is told she would be refused food if she visits Diego Garcia

A British judge has been prevented from holding a hearing in a British overseas territory by officials working for the United States government.

Margaret Obi, an acting judge of the British Indian Ocean Territory Supreme Court, had been due to fly to Diego Garcia last week to decide whether a group of around 60 Sri Lankan Tamil asylum seekers who had been rescued at sea by the Royal Navy were being unlawfully detained on the coral atoll. I explained the background in a detailed piece last month.

A solicitor for some of the asylum seekers told me yesterday:

That the British Indian Ocean Territory Supreme Court has been prevented from sitting in its own territory on crown land is an extraordinary affront to the rule of law and we trust that the foreign secretary will now do everything in his power to ensure that the hearing goes ahead as soon as possible.

Diego Garcia with the US airport runway in the foreground (Google Earth)

US warning

At the end of last month, a senior official at the US State Department sent an email to the Ministry of Defence and the Foreign Office, copied to the territory’s deputy commissioner, warning the UK that Obi and others who were due to travel with her might not be able to take flights arranged by the US government to visit what it refers to as “Naval Support Facility Diego Garcia”.