A UK court has overturned a ban preventing Chagossians from living on the outer Chagos Islands.
In February, nine people, including four Chagossians, landed on Ile Du Coin, an uninhabited outer island 135 miles south of Diego Garcia. They were ordered to leave, prompting legal action against the British Indian Ocean Territory (BIOT) commissioner.
The BIOT Supreme Court ruled the 2004 law stripping Chagossians of entry rights was unlawful.
The UK has agreed to hand sovereignty of the Indian Ocean archipelago to Mauritius, while leasing back a joint UK-US military base on Diego Garcia for 99 years. US President Donald Trump criticized the deal as a "big mistake."
The court noted that the legal basis for excluding the population had vanished, especially after the sovereignty agreement removed defense and funding justifications.
The UK government disputes the ruling and is appealing it. Conservative figures like Priti Patel have slammed the government's handling of the issue, calling it a betrayal.
The Chagossians had initially claimed they were visiting graves, but the court emphasized that the claimed power to exclude a whole group must be legally justified, not administratively convenient.