TWO men whose passports were cancelled after they joined a humanitarian aid convoy have taken the Home Office to the High Court.

The pair, known only as B and ND, were helping deliver aid to Syria when they were stopped at Dover last May and subsequently had their passports cancelled by then home secretary Amber Rudd.

Both men were said to be “considered a person whose past, present or proposed activities, actual or suspected, are so undesirable that the grant or continued enjoyment of passport facilities is believed to be contrary to the public interest.”

Dan Squires QC, for both B and ND, said that the Home Office had determined that the pair were planning to travel to Syria “in support of al-Qaida,” which they strongly deny.

Answers to questioning by ND were deemed “unconvincing,” Mr Squires said and he was believed to be “deliberately disguising his intention to travel” to Syria.

The lawyer added that the reason for cancelling B’s passport was “exactly the same,” with the additional allegation that B had “been in Syria in March 2013 … where it was said he provided support to al-Qaida-affiliated groups.”

Both men, who have “a long history of volunteering in humanitarian aid work,” contend that the decision to cancel their passports was unlawful and “not necessary [or] proportionate.”

Mr Squires said it was apparent from the Home Office’s open evidence that the case against the men was “strikingly weak, particularly for a decision of this importance.”

He also submitted that Ms Rudd had taken the decision “on the basis of incomplete, unfair or simply incorrect” summaries of the evidence, which “does not come close to establishing that [they] have ever been involved in terrorist activity, let alone justifying cancellation of their passports.”

In written submissions, Mr Squires said ND had “spent years working to combat radicalisation … and the accusation of involvement in terrorism appears to have precipitated a serious deterioration in his mental health.”

He pointed out that both men are unable to leave Britain “for a potentially indefinite period of time,” so they are “unable to visit close family members who live abroad, including parents who are elderly and in ill-health.”

The hearing, some of which has been held in private on the grounds of national security, continues.