UK can sign deal handing Chagos Islands to Mauritius, High Court rules

The High Court has ruled the authorities tin motion the Chagos Island woody aft a late-night injunction attempted to artifact it.

Early connected Thursday, an exigency injunction from the High Court had stopped the authorities from concluding the Chagos Island woody to manus implicit sovereignty of the archipelago to Mauritius.

Mr Justice Goose had allowed "interim relief" to Bertrice Pompe, who had antecedently taken steps to bring ineligible enactment against the Foreign Office implicit the deal.

Ms Pompe is simply a Chagossian pistillate who sees the woody arsenic a betrayal of their rights.

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The order, granted astatine 2.25am, had said the authorities whitethorn instrumentality "no conclusive oregon legally binding measurement to reason its negotiations concerning the imaginable transportation of the British Indian Ocean Territory, besides known arsenic the Chagos Archipelago, to a overseas authorities oregon hindrance itself arsenic to the peculiar presumption of immoderate specified transfer".

But aft a proceeding astatine the High Court connected Thursday, a justice said the impermanent injunction should beryllium discharged.

This means the authorities could inactive motion the Chagos woody successful the coming hours.

Downing Street welcomed this decision, saying the statement is "vital to support the British radical and our nationalist security".

Mr Justice Chamberlain told the High Court that the "public involvement and the interests of the United Kingdom would beryllium substantially prejudiced by the assistance oregon continuance of interim relief",

He said: "These matters supply a beardown nationalist involvement crushed against the continuance of interim relief.

"I person concluded that the enactment granted by Mr Justice Goose should beryllium discharged and determination should beryllium nary further interim relief."

During the hearing, Philip Rule KC, for Ms Pompe, had asked for the artifact connected concluding the woody to proceed to forestall "significant prejudice to the claimant".

Mr Rule, appearing by video nexus from New York, aboriginal said it was "fanciful" to accidental that the woody would not beryllium capable to spell up connected a day different than Thursday.

He said: "The objectives of some sides volition not person changed… They are not going to wantonness that assertion successful the adjacent 2 oregon 3 weeks."

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Mr Justice Chamberlain, summarising a papers fixed to the tribunal by the government, said: "The statement tin beryllium concluded contiguous and it does not needfully person to beryllium astatine 9am."

He past asked Sir James Eadie KC, for the FCDO, whether "the statement tin inactive beryllium concluded if it is concluded today".

Sir James confirmed that was the case.

He aboriginal said: "My instructions from Number 10 are that we request a determination by 1pm contiguous if we are to motion today, and everybody is lasting by."

The determination from the High Court came precise soon earlier 1pm.

Ms Pompe, who filed the exertion for interim relief, believes the British authorities is acting with disregard for the quality rights of the Chagossian people.

She has argued completion of the woody would magnitude to a breach of the Human Rights Act and the Equality Act.

Chagossians are the erstwhile residents of the Chagos Islands, who were removed from the islands, predominantly to Mauritius, betwixt the mid-1960s and early-1970s.

Those calved connected the islands and their children clasp British nationality, but consequent generations calved extracurricular British territory person nary entitlement to it.