Syrian asylum seekers poised to appeal passport convictions

Three asylum seekers fleeing the conflict in Syria have been told that they can appeal their convictions for entering the UK without valid passports.

The men were arrested on arrival in the UK in 2013 and were jailed for between eight weeks and four months. The Criminal Cases Review Commission (CCRC), which investigates suspected miscarriages of justice, has ruled that the men were wrongly told to plead guilty to the charges brought against them and can now appeal their convictions.

It says there is "a real possibility" that the crown court could allow the men to withdraw their guilty pleas on the basis that "each was deprived of a defence that was likely to succeed", the BBC reports.

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During the last three years, 34 convictions involving asylum seekers have been referred to the appeal courts. These are the first cases involving Syrian nationals.

In 2002, then Home Secretary David Blunkett introduced tough new measures to curb the rising number of asylum seekers, which included jail terms of up to two years for people arriving without valid travel documents.

The rules may have contributed to a fall in numbers which followed, "but they have had an unintended consequence too, leading to dozens of wrongful convictions", says the BBC's home affairs correspondent Danny Shaw.

"It's a puzzle why that has happened, when the law quite sensibly provides a defence for people fleeing persecution who can't acquire a genuine passport to get out of their home country," he says. "The legal and prison costs are considerable, the human cost even greater."

The number of refugees seeking asylum in developed countries has reached its highest level in more than two decades, the UN revealed last month.

The increase is linked to worsening conflicts in Syria and Iraq, which have created "the worst humanitarian crisis of our era," UNHCR spokeswoman Melissa Fleming told the BBC. "We need countries to step up to the plate."