Farid and Fariba Ahmadi and their two young children have been held in an asylum camp in Germany since they were forced to leave the country in August.

The family had taken refuge in a mosque near Stourbridge, West Midlands, but were removed by police amid protests from the local community.

They were sent back to Germany because it was the first country they arrived in after fleeing Kabul in 2000.

Video link

In September, the High Court ruled the family had been sent back to Germany illegally by Home Secretary David Blunkett.

It cannot be right to allow people to use political asylum to shop around for the best deal in benefits Home Office minister Beverley Hughes

Mr Justice Scott Baker said the family should have had the chance to mount an appeal to the Immigration Appellate Authority (IAA) before they were sent to Munich.

The family launched an appeal against their deportation and gave evidence via a video link to an immigration appeal hearing in west London.

But on Tuesday, the Immigration Appeals Tribunal ruled against the family.

Pierre Maklouf, the Ahmadis' legal adviser, said: "We are very disappointed with the decision but we believe that there are grounds for taking the case further.

'Political judgement'

"We believe that the decision is wrong in law and it cannot be just to affect immigration controls in a situation where a family such as this one will not be able to function normally."

The raid on the mosque was widely condemned

He added the future looked bleak for the family, particularly the oldest child, Hadia, six.

Alan Gibson, from the Committee to Defend Asylum Seekers (CDAS), described the ruling as a "grossly political judgement".

He said: "It flies in the face of all the evidence presented at the case, much of which the Home Office was forced to agree with, particularly in the way the family were deported."

But Home Office minister Beverley Hughes said she was pleased with the decision that the government had acted "entirely within UK and international law".

Taleban torture

She said: "This is a fundamental example of the sort of case which seriously undermines our ability to enforce our immigration laws as decided by parliament.

"We cannot tolerate such clear abuses of the asylum system by entertaining claims that are without substance or merit.

"The Ahmadis' case must properly be considered in Germany where they first claimed asylum.

"It cannot be right to allow people to use political asylum to shop around for the best deal in benefits."

Mr Ahmadi, 33, and his 24-year-old wife fled Afghanistan claiming they had been persecuted and tortured by the Taleban.

The family spent seven months in asylum camps, where they claim they faced racial bigotry, before arriving in the UK in June 2001.

Since being deported from the UK, Mrs Ahmadi has spent almost a month in a psychiatric hospital.