The British government has suffered a legal defeat that could mean the release of hundreds of asylum seekers from an immigration centre.
The High Court has ruled the detention of four Iraqi Kurds who were held at Oakington, a former RAF barracks in Cambridgeshire that opened in March last year, was unlawful.
The four claimed their detention - even for a few days while it was decided whether they were genuine refugees - was unlawful. Three of the men have since been granted refugee status.
The Kurds argued that there was no reason to believe that they would abscond and that the government had no right to deprive them of their liberty.
Mr Justice Collins said: "I am satisfied that the detention of all the claimants was not lawful".
Lawyers for British Home Secretary Mr David Blunkett unsuccessfully argued Oakington was a reception centre rather than a detention facility and that the holding of asylum seekers there was lawful.
The British government faces the prospect of huge compensation claims and is likely to launch an appeal.
PA