Liz Truss wanted to bring stranded Tamil asylum seekers to UK, documents show

Then foreign secretary said in 2022 there was a ‘credible threat of mass suicide’ from group stuck on Diego Garcia

Liz Truss recommended that a group of Tamil asylum seekers stranded on a tiny British territory in the Indian Ocean be brought to the UK due to a “credible threat of mass suicide”, documents show.

Diego Garcia is part of the Chagos Islands, which the UK calls the British Indian Ocean Territory (BIOT) and over which it continues to claim sovereignty despite a UN court ruling that they are part of Mauritius.

In the UK and Ireland, Samaritans can be contacted on freephone 116 123, or email jo@samaritans.org or jo@samaritans.ie. In the US, you can call or text the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline on 988, chat on 988lifeline.org, or text HOME to 741741 to connect with a crisis counselor. In Australia, the crisis support service Lifeline is 13 11 14. Other international helplines can be found at befrienders.org