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Chagossians suffer blow in fight to go home as court rejects WikiLeak cable
Source: The Guardian
Chagossians suffer blow in fight to go home as court rejects WikiLeak cable
Owen Bowcott, Legal affairs correspondent
The Guardian, Thursday 18 April 2013 17.03 BST
Classified US embassy cables obtained by WikiLeaks cannot be used as evidence in British courts because they are in breach of diplomatic privilege, judges have ruled.
The decision by Lord Justice Richards and Mr Justice Mitting in the high court will have far-reaching consequences and is a severe setback for the use of material obtained from leaks or whistleblowers.
Lawyers representing exiled islanders from the Chagos archipelago had planned to exploit revealing official documents, obtained by WikiLeaks and published in the Guardian, to question a Foreign Office official, Colin Roberts. He was commissioner for the British Indian Ocean Territory (BIOT), which covers the Chagos Islands, in 2009 when the cable was written by the US embassy in London.
The US cable quoted Roberts, who is due to become the next governor of the Falkland Islands, telling the Americans that as a result of imposing a marine protected area (MPA) on the territory, there would be no "human footprints" or "Man Fridays" on the islands. The US rents a military base on the largest island, Diego Garcia.
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Owen Bowcott, Legal affairs correspondent
The Guardian, Thursday 18 April 2013 17.03 BST
Classified US embassy cables obtained by WikiLeaks cannot be used as evidence in British courts because they are in breach of diplomatic privilege, judges have ruled.
The decision by Lord Justice Richards and Mr Justice Mitting in the high court will have far-reaching consequences and is a severe setback for the use of material obtained from leaks or whistleblowers.
Lawyers representing exiled islanders from the Chagos archipelago had planned to exploit revealing official documents, obtained by WikiLeaks and published in the Guardian, to question a Foreign Office official, Colin Roberts. He was commissioner for the British Indian Ocean Territory (BIOT), which covers the Chagos Islands, in 2009 when the cable was written by the US embassy in London.
The US cable quoted Roberts, who is due to become the next governor of the Falkland Islands, telling the Americans that as a result of imposing a marine protected area (MPA) on the territory, there would be no "human footprints" or "Man Fridays" on the islands. The US rents a military base on the largest island, Diego Garcia.
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Read more: http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2013/apr/18/chagos-islanders-court-rejects-wikileaks-cable
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