IMMIGRATION rules that stripped two asylum seekers of their fundamental right to be heard have been struck down by top judges.

The Appeal Court's decision meant the Lord Chancellor, Lord Falconer, must now embark on a full-scale re-write of regulations condemned as a violation of the basic fairness and the rule of law.

The two asylum seekers had had their claims for refugee status turned down in their absence by the Asylum and Immigration Tribunal not because of any fault on their part but simply because their lawyers had failed to inform the authorities of their change of address from Bury to Manchester.

And Lord Justice Sedley told the court: "It is evident that the rules in their present form are capable of working irreversible injustice on people who have done nothing wrong."

The court's decision means that both asylum claims - by an Iranian woman and a Libyan man - must now be heard afresh by the tribunal, and this time in their presence.

And, after delivering his ruling, Lord Justice Sedley told the court that Lord Falconer is already in the process of re-drafting the immigration rules to comply with the court's decision.

The judge said both asylum seekers, who cannot be named, had been living in Bury, when they lodged their appeals to the tribunal.

However, both were later moved to new addresses in Manchester at the behest of the Home Office's own National Asylum Support Service, but their legal advisers did not inform the Tribunal of that fact.

As a result, the pair received no notification of the tribunal hearings of such drastic importance to their future and had no idea they were even happening, said Lord Justice Sedley.

The tribunal, even after being informed of the legal advisers' error, said it had no power to re-open the pair's asylum appeals.