Home Secretary David Blunkett "broke the rules" in his haste to deport an Afghan family from the UK who had taken sanctuary in a mosque, a High Court judge has heard.

Farid and Feriba Ahmadi and their two children were deported to Germany last month after they were forced to leave the West Midlands mosque where they had been seeking refuge.

They were flown from the UK en route to Munich in a specially-chartered jet at a cost to the taxpayer of an estimated �30,000.

Lawyers on behalf of the family are challenging the way the Home Office dealt with the case, at a hearing at the High Court in London.

Supporters of the Ahmadis held demonstrations

David Pannick QC, representing the family, accused the home secretary of breaking the rules in his rush to deport the family.

And he said before any final decision was made, the Ahmadis should have had a hearing before an independent adjudicator because of the fears for the mental health of the mother and children.

Human rights concern

Instead the decision was taken despite "a credible contention", backed by independent expert medical advice, that to send the family to Germany could cause the mother and children "considerable mental harm" and amount to an abuse of their human rights.

Mr Pannick told Mr Justice Scott Baker: "We say the reality is that, in his rush to remove the family from the UK and prevent them from having their case considered on its merits by the independent judicial authority prior to removal, the minister has broken the rules.

"We say the legal principle stated by Parliament requires there be no removal prior to the hearing of the human rights point by an adjudicator, unless the human rights claim is manifestly unfounded."

"We say it plainly was not given the evidence before the minister."

The Ahmadis fled Afghanistan in 2000, claiming they had been tortured and persecuted by the Taleban regime.

Rights breach

They spent seven months in Germany but claim to have suffered racism and bigotry there.

They then travelled to Britain to seek asylum but the Home Office refused them permission to stay, saying they should seek refuge in the last safe country they had entered.

The parents were forcibly removed from the mosque in Lye, near Stourbridge.

On Tuesday Mr Pannick stressed the court was not being asked to decide the validity of the Ahmadis' claim that they had suffered persecution in Afghanistan.

The court was not being asked to decide whether Germany was performing its responsibilities under the Geneva convention on refugees, or whether it was a breach of their human rights to send them to Germany.

Mr Pannick said it was at least "strongly arguable" before an adjudicator that their removal breached their human rights.

The hearing continues.