Home secretary told by court of appeal to ‘rapidly’ decide whether six families rescued from boat in 1998 can enter Britain

A group of refugees who have spent more than 18 years living in condemned buildings at a British military base in Cyprus have won a legal victory after the appeal court ordered the home secretary to reverse an earlier decision and consider admitting them to Britain.



But despite one of the judges calling the refugees’ living conditions “quite unacceptable”, their legal battle will almost certainly continue: the government has indicated it will seek leave to appeal to the supreme court and, pending that decision, is seeking a stay on the order that it must reconsider the group’s position.

Tag Bashir, the lead claimant, said they would not give up even if the government appeal succeeded. “We hope that the home secretary will now allow us entry to the UK,” he said on Thursday. “We will keep fighting until she does.”

'We're in limbo': the families marooned at a British military base for 16 years Read more

Six families have lived on the base since being rescued from an abandoned fishing boat in 1998 and offered temporary shelter in married quarters due for demolition. In November 2014, the then home secretary, Theresa May, refused the families entry on the grounds they had no strong ties to Britain and could be resettled in Cyprus.

Bashir, who is from Sudan and has three children aged five, eight and 15 among the 19 children in the group, told the Guardian their situation was becoming more difficult. The small cash allowance they had been receiving was ended seven months ago and they faced losing their food aid as well.

“People are trying to borrow from their neighbours, or to get small things to do for very small money, for their families,” he said.



Despite the legal obstacles, Bashir said he still wanted to reach the UK. “It is for the children, I think England is still a good place when they finish school to go to good universities and get a good job and build a good future,” he said. “I have hope for that. Actually what I want is just to have a proper job, to participate in society, to have a normal future.”

Their lawyer, Tessa Gregory, a partner at Leigh Day, said the case had gone on for too long: “Now is the time for the government to show compassion and a ‘strong and stable’ resolve to address this situation. We would appeal to the home secretary to do the decent thing, to show compassion and let them into the UK.”

However, she added: “We suspect that this is not the end of the road.”

May’s original decision was overturned last year in the high court, which ruled that she had failed to consider all the circumstances, and that the government was obliged to act “within the spirit” of the 1951 refugee convention.

On Thursday, three appeal court judges, Lord Justice Jackson, Lord Justice Briggs and Lord Justice Irwin, went further than the high court, ruling that the convention applied directly to the group, and ordering the current home secretary, Amber Rudd, to reconsider the decision “rapidly”.

Lord Justice Irwin said: “The secretary of state must take the decision once more, but on the basis that the refugee convention applies directly and the UK owes direct obligations to the claimants by operation of public international law.”



He said the families had already experienced enormous delay. “I would regard it as unreasonable and a failure of the obligations to the refugees if resettlement was not achieved rapidly,” he said.

The group, originally from Iraq, Sudan, Ethiopia and Syria, now includes children born at the base, and one woman who was born on the fishing boat after the engine failed and the people smugglers abandoned them.



'We're in limbo': the families marooned at a British military base for 16 years Read more

They were trying to get from Lebanon to Italy, but were instead taken ashore on a part of Cyprus which has sovereign base area status, effectively land retained by Britain when the island gained independence in 1960.



They have refused repeated attempts to persuade or evict them on to Cypriot soil in case it damages their claim for refugee status. The government has argued in court that the refugee convention does not apply to the sovereign base areas.

The families have been occupying buildings known as Richmond Village, far from any facilities, on a corner of the Dhekalia military base. A small number of the group, including Bashir and others represented in the legal action, have been granted refugee status, but the UK has refused to admit them, as have other EU countries, which regard them as Britain’s responsibility.