Britain's secretive Court to rule on Chagossians

NEWS

One of the most obscure courts under the British Crown is due to hear a case today that goes to the heart of the Chagos issue: whether Chagossians may be punished, via means yet to be determined, for living on the islands from which they were forcibly removed. 

What is the case about? 

Misley Mandarin, elected First Minister of the Chagos Government by his group BIOT Citizen*, travelled to the Chagos Islands (also know as British Indian Ocean Territory (BIOT) with other Chagossian people on 16 February. They are protesting against the sovereignty treaty between Britain and Mauritius which contains no guaranteed right for Chagossian people to resettle on the islands. The group was later served with removal orders under the BIOT Immigration Order 2004. 

This morning the case of the Chagossians including Mandarin and his father Michel Mandarin is due to be heard in the British Indian Ocean Territory (BIOT) Supreme Court.

Under the 2004 Order, Mandarin and others, lacking a permit, are deemed unlawfully present, and are considered to be committing an offence punishable by up to three years in prison or a £3000 fine, or both.

How the secretive BIOT Court works

Criminal proceedings regarding BIOT do not function like a normal Crown Court. There is no jury. Instead the BIOT Supreme Court sits with the Chief Justice of the BIOT. Under Section 45 of the Criminal Procedure Code for Ordinances of the BIOT, the hearing may occur with or without assessors, stating:

‘The Supreme Court or the Magistrate’s Court may sit with an assessor or assessors in any trial, if the court considers it in the interests of justice to do so.’

And even then, assessors are advisory only. 

Furthermore, under the Courts Ordinance 1983, the BIOT Supreme Court stands as a superior court of record with unlimited civil and criminal jurisdiction, wielding powers on par with the UK High Court of Justice. Yet, despite its power, it operates under the radar free from public scrutiny, and is known to few. 

The public are allowed to watch from a public seating, although places are limited. There is no filmed record provided by the court. 

The court is staffed by unelected officials, with the territory itself administered from London, rather than by anyone actually from or residing on the islands. This unelected BIOT government says that the Commissioner is appointed by the King and the official BIOT Gazette records that appointment being made through a Secretary of State, whilst the Chief Justice is appointed by that very Commissioner. For more read here.

Given all of this it is surprising that public access to information is minimal. The BIOT government maintains a ‘Court Hearings and Judgements’ page, but it is sparse, with no details or listing for the Misley Mandarin hearing. The page mostly contains a small list of judgements and notices regarding the recent unlawful detention of Tamil asylum seekers on Diego Garcia. And this is the clearest recent example of that the BIOT courts surface publicly for: immigration control, detention and deportation. 

However, there does exist a BIOT Court of Appeal. The latest published appellate ruling is the 2025 judgement upholding findings that the Tamil asylum seekers were unlawfully detained on Diego Garcia.

Any cases involving the outer islands beyond Diego Garcia are impossibly hard to find. There are no publicly available BIOT judgements concerning Île du Coin or elsewhere in Peros Banhos before the Mandarin case. 

Therefore, this hearing is not just testing the enforcement of the 2004 Order, but may become the first publicly visible court battle over whether Chagossians can re-establish themselves on islands beyond Diego Garcia. 

The Chagossians’ legal argument for the right to resettle 

Mandarin’s legal team will likely frame the case not just as an immigration dispute, but as part of the long-term injustice of the removal of the Chagossians. The lawyers representing Mandarin are expected to argue that the government are guilty of conduct amounting to ‘crimes against humanity’.

A secretive court, publicly vague with its judgements, with no jury, unelected but appointed and wielding immense powers, now finds itself deciding whether Chagossians (including at least one Michel Mandarin who was born there) can be treated as illegal intruders on their homeland.

Harry Mayes, deputy editor, THE CHAGOS FILES/12 Mar.2026

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*The vote was organised by the Great British PAC and independently

verified by Whitestone Insight

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