THREE asylum-seekers have taken the Home Office to court for operating a secret blanket policy of seizing mobile phones from people crossing the Channel over an eight-month period. 

The four-day High Court hearing, set to conclude today, will look at whether the undisclosed policy, carried out between April and November 2020, was lawful. 

After seizing phones, arrivals were also told that it was an offence if they didn’t hand over their pin numbers, according to lawyers representing the three asylum-seekers. 

Until July 2020, the policy also involved extracting huge amounts of data from seized phones, lawyers said. 

The three asylum-seekers claim they had their phones seized during this period. Two were forced to wait almost a year to have their phone returned, which only happened after they threatened legal action. 

Lawyer Clare Jennings of Gold Jennings, representing one of the asylum-seekers, branded the policy an “assault on civil liberties” which had a “profoundly negative” impact on her client. 

“Our clients could not let their friends and family know they had survived the perilous journey to the UK, they lost contact with loved ones and were left isolated and alone in the UK,” she said. 

“I hope that this case will shine a light on the Home Office’s actions and help protect these fundamental rights in the future.”

The three argue that the Home Office’s seizure of phones, request for pin numbers and extraction of data was unlawful because there is no legal basis to carry this out.

They also argue that the policy breached their human rights and data protection laws. 

The Home Office initially denied the existence of the policy but was later forced to admit it after legal proceedings had been initiated.