Failed asylum seekers are entitled to support before deportation

David Blunkett feared giving such information would encourage unfounded applications for help, said Mr Justice Stanley Burnton at the High Court.

But publicising the law was "a fundamental requisite" of the rule of law itself, he said.

He was ruling in a case brought by an Iraqi Kurd and an Iranian.

Both Ibrahim Salih and Behnam Rahmani are now receiving accommodation and support but won permission to challenge Mr Blunkett's "non-disclosure" policy in the courts.

Asylum seekers whose applications have failed may be eligible for so-called "hard case support" while they await return to their home countries.

It provides full-board accommodation usually outside London to asylum seekers who are complying with efforts to remove them from the UK.

'Non-disclosure' can lead desperate people to crime, Blunkett was told

There was no evidence publicising such schemes would increase ineligible applications, said Mr Justice Burnton.

Mr Blunkett would "doubtless" take into account that some people - unaware of their eligibility for support - falsified duplicate applications for assistance and ended up in jail.

"It is a fundamental requisite of the rule of law that the law should be made known," Mr Justice Burnton said.

"The individual must be able to know of his legal rights and obligations."