Denying Justice to the Chagossians
07.08.07 - 03:43pm
“There are times when one tragedy, one crime tells us how a whole system works behind its democratic facade and helps us to understand how much of the world is run for the benefit of the powerful and how governments lie” - John Pilger
The British Foreign Office has lodged yet another appeal to the House of Lords in its continuing efforts to deny justice to the hundreds of families exiled from their former home, the Chagos Archipelago.
In one of the most shameful acts in British history, in the 1960s the Government, through subterfuge and force, depopulated the Chagos islands in order to hand over the largest land mass, Diego Garcia, to the United States to use as a military base. Ever since, the Chagossians have been fighting to right this dreadful wrong and return home.
In 2000 the high court ruled they could reclaim their home but, demonstrating a contempt for the courts and in a shocking abuse of power, the Government invoked an archaic royal prerogative to overturn the decision. In May of this year Lord Justice Sedley ruled that unlawful yet the Government has now appealed against this ruling.
The British Government’s continuing efforts to steal the islanders’ homeland and conceal its dreadful crime have been documented extensively by the investigative journalist John Pilger and his shocking and moving documentary can be seen here.
Shortly after the Chagossians were removed from their homes, Britain leased the island of Diego Garcia to the United State to enable the construction of a massive military base. The Council of Europe concluded last month that Diego Garcia (along with bases in eastern Europe) was the site of a secret CIA detention centre, where terrorist suspects were illegally transported on “extraordinary rendition” or torture flights.
Rarely does a single case give us such an insight into the dark heart of the British establishment, the paucity of its claims to benevolence and its commitment to deceit.
The Chagossians deserve our support. More information about the islanders’ campaign is available here.
Speak Your Peace