Court of Appeal Upholds Ruling on Unlawful Detention of Tamil Asylum Seekers on Diego Garcia
On 16 December 2025, the British Indian Ocean Territory Court of Appeal upheld a 2024 ruling that found the detention of Tamil asylum seekers on Diego Garcia unlawful. The appeal by the commissioner, Nishi Dholakia, was dismissed on all grounds.
The 2024 judgment by Ms Justice Margaret Obi established that the detention, which lasted for over three years, was unlawful and described the conditions as prison-like. Dozens of Tamils, including 16 children, had arrived on Diego Garcia following a shipwreck while attempting to seek asylum in Canada. They were detained on the UK-US military base in the BIOT.
Detainees were held in fenced and guarded camps with rat-infested tents and were largely deprived of their liberty. The court stated that the commissioner's evidence supporting the appeal was a highly selective exercise and failed to justify the confinement.
Costs to UK taxpayers for detention were approximately £108,000 per day, with potential damages reaching into the millions due to the unlawful detention of more than 60 people.
The Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office commented that Diego Garcia was never a suitable location for migrants and that safety considerations had been taken into account. It said the BIOT administration should study the judgment carefully and determine next steps, acknowledging that the outcome was not what the government wanted.
The ruling may result in substantial damages and reflects delays by both the Home Secretary and Foreign Secretary in ending detention and relocating the detainees.
Diego Garcia is a UK-US military base located roughly halfway between Tanzania and Indonesia.
