A High Court judge will decide on Friday whether hundreds of people who were interned by the Japanese during World War II should receive compensation.

Under a UK government scheme, former Japanese prisoners of war can receive �10,000 in recognition of society's debt to them.

However, since 2001 the payments are only made to ex-internees who were born in the UK or whose parents or grandparents were born in the UK.

Hundreds of former POWs born in Crown colonies have asked Mr Justice Scott Baker to rule that the government's stance is "divisive and legally repugnant".

Unjust treatment

Lawyers for the Association of British Civilian Internees Far East Region (ABCIFER) say its members have been treated unfairly.

They said the government's refusal to make payments to their clients is "fundamentally unjust" in view of their "unique suffering".

They point to the fact that before 2001 these people would have been entitled to compensation.

Prior to the change in the law, anyone born in a Crown colony was British independently of whether or not they or their parents and grandparents had been born in the UK.

They owed their allegiance to the Crown and had the right of abode in the UK and throughout the Crown colonies.