Four months on from an urgent hearing, the Chagossian challenge over Diego Garcia is frozen in the courts while the Government presses ahead. Chagossian representatives Louis Misley Mandarin and Louis Michel Mandarin are still waiting on a decision they were told would come within days.
Today the two men turned to the High Court of Justice, Administrative Court, filing an urgent application to force the matter back into the listings before a new judge so their stalled judicial review can finally move.
At the heart of the claim are decisions and omissions by the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office over Diego Garcia and the future of the Chagos Islands.
The judicial review was issued on 24 June 2025. Inside 48 hours the High Court accepted that the case warranted expedition. Eight months on, it has still not cleared the first hurdle of a permission hearing.
A threshold decision that never came
The oral renewal hearing was held on 28 October 2025, with the Court signalling that judgment would follow shortly. It did not.
Permission is not a trial. It settles none of the facts. It asks only one thing: whether the claim is arguable and ought to proceed. The appellate courts call it a low threshold, yet that single question has now sat undecided for close to four months.
No timetable has been set, and the delay means the arguments themselves have gone unheard. Until a decision lands, the case cannot advance to a full hearing, and the Claimants cannot even seek permission to appeal to the Court of Appeal. Their application puts it bluntly: justice delayed is justice denied.
The clock has not stopped
The procedural history is plain:
- 24 June 2025, judicial review issued
- 26 June 2025, High Court abridges time
- 15 September 2025, permission refused on the papers
- Within seven days, renewal lodged
- 28 October 2025, oral hearing held, decision reserved
- November to February, repeated indications that a draft was anticipated, no ruling delivered
Over the very same months, events outside the courtroom kept moving:
- Parliamentary stages concerning Diego Garcia have progressed
- Sovereignty discussions have continued
- Public debate has intensified
- In December 2025, the Chagossian community established a Government in Exile, citing the urgency of representation
The courts have stayed silent; the political process has not paused for a moment.
An exceptional situation
The Claimants are careful to say they are sympathetic to the reported illness of the presiding judge and grateful for the updates they have had. But the position now is stark: no timetable, no indication of when any decision will be delivered, and nearly four months gone since the hearing.
Permission decisions are often handed down quickly, frequently given orally on the same day. At the October hearing the Claimants were allowed just 45 minutes to address the threshold question, while the Defendant's submissions ran beyond the time set aside. A ruling was expected within days. It has now been months.
What happens now
The Claimants are asking the Court to relist the matter within days. They are ready to make their argument again and then press for a full hearing. As they put it, no one seems to want to listen, but they will not stop speaking up.
Interim Chagossian First Minister and Claimant Misley Mandarin said:
“Justice delayed is justice denied. We are not asking the Court to decide our case today. We are asking for a decision on whether it can be heard. That is a low threshold. Nearly four months later, there is still no answer. Meanwhile, decisions about our homeland continue to be taken. The Chagossian people cannot be left in indefinite limbo.”
A legal spokesperson for the Claimants said:
“This is a threshold determination about arguability. It is not a full judgment. The Court itself recognised that expedition was appropriate. Yet the case remains stalled. That delay prevents progress in either direction and denies the Claimants justice – they deserve to be heard.”
Claire Bullivant of the Great British PAC said:
“An urgent judicial review was heard in October. There is still no decision. Parliament is being asked to move forward on sovereignty arrangements before the court has even decided whether the case should proceed. That cannot be how justice is meant to function.”
Further updates will follow once the Court responds.