Chagos exiles 'cannot return'
Exiles of the Chagos Islands will not be able to return to their homeland, the House of Lords has ruled.
The government won its appeal against a previous court decision that had ruled in favour of 2,000 former residents of the British Indian Ocean territory.
They were evicted in the 1960s when the colony was leased to the US to build an airbase on the atoll of Diego Garcia.
Their solicitor Richard Gifford said they are in a "state of shock" at the "disappointing outcome".
He added: "It has been the misfortune of the Chagos islanders that their passionate desire to return to their homeland has been caught up in the power politics of foreign policy for the past 40 years."
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The government won its appeal against a previous court decision that had ruled in favour of 2,000 former residents of the British Indian Ocean territory.
They were evicted in the 1960s when the colony was leased to the US to build an airbase on the atoll of Diego Garcia.
Their solicitor Richard Gifford said they are in a "state of shock" at the "disappointing outcome".
He added: "It has been the misfortune of the Chagos islanders that their passionate desire to return to their homeland has been caught up in the power politics of foreign policy for the past 40 years."