Judge allows leaked file in court case

Published on 26/07/2012 00:00

A TOP judge has taken the unprecedented step of ordering two senior government officials to face cross-examination in court over a classified US document leaked by Wikileaks.

Despite strong objections from lawyers acting for Foreign Secretary William Hague, the High Court judge ruled yesterday the move was necessary to resolve “fairly and justly” a claim launched against the government by exiled residents of the Chagos Islands.

The judge declared the leaked US cable – alleged to relate to a US-UK diplomatic meeting – could be investigated in court even though it must have been obtained unlawfully by “the notorious internet organisation”.

The ruling will come as a blow in Whitehall, which argued that courts should not allow any applications for cross-examination in relation to documents unlawfully obtained by Wikileaks.

The British expelled the Chagos islanders between 1965 and 1973 in order to allow the 
US to establish an air base on Diego Garcia, the largest island in the Chagos archipelago in the British Indian Ocean Territory.