Another possible point of resistance in London and Washington may have been strategic: the desire not to recapitulate the problems of Diego Garcia, part of the British Indian Ocean territory.

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In December of 2010 Great Britain announced the largest marine protected reserve in the world, 55 islands scattered remotely in the British Indian Ocean Territory, and called the Chagos Archipelago.

FORBES: Japan's Tragedy: Global Ecological Uncertainty

He believes he was rendered from Bangkok to Libya by the CIA and the flight refuelled on the island of Diego Garcia, the British overseas territory in the Indian Ocean.

BBC: Abdul Hakim Belhaj 'will settle' over Libyan rendition