The Guardian reported on Saturday that a Syrian asylum seeker was given a one-year sentence for travelling to the UK on a false Canadian passport.
According to the Guardian, Roudi Chikhi was arrested at Gatwick airport in December 2012 after fleeing Syria.
Chikhi was granted refugee status two months into his sentence but was still required to complete a further four months in prison. In addition, savings confiscated from him under the Proceeds of Crime Act were never returned.
As Channel 4 News reported in July, the Court of Appeal quashed the criminal convictions of five asylum seekers for using false passports in a case brought by the Criminal Cases Review Commission.
The case, Mateta & Ors, noted that section 31 of the Immigration and Asylum Act 1999 provides defences for using false documents based on Article 31(1) of the Refugee Convention.
Lord Justice Leveson said in the judgment that the original convictions were a clear injustice.
The Criminal Cases Review Commission says such cases are "a significant and potentially widespread misunderstanding or abuse of the law".
A Home Office spokesman told the Guardian: "Our guidance clearly states that if an asylum seeker has, or may have, a defence under section 31 of the Immigration Act, then that individual should not be arrested. If a criminal investigation is launched, then any decision to prosecute rests with the CPS."