The News was scheduled to attend a hearing this week at the British Indian Ocean Territory’s (Biot) supreme court regarding the legality of detaining a group of migrants on the island of Diego Garcia.
Access to the island is severely limited, and it is home to a covert UK-US military installation.
According to official emails we have seen, the US said last week that it was “withdrawing its consent” for attorneys representing the migrants and “members of the press”—the News—to enter the island.
It said that “housing, transportation, and food for the visit” would not be provided, and that hearing attendees would not be permitted to board US military flights to Diego Garcia.
If the visit was “conducted in a manner” that met its “security and operational concerns,” the US stated that it would be “willing to reconsider.”
When their boat broke down close to Diego Garcia, dozens of migrants who claimed to be fleeing persecution attempted to sail to Canada to seek asylum, arriving on the island in October 2021.
The court shared an order canceling the first stage of the journey late last Thursday night, hours before the judge, UK government lawyers, and those representing the refugees and the news were scheduled to board flights.
