A weekly newspaper has won praise from a human rights charity for its role in raising awareness of the plight of three hunger-striking asylum seekers, who have now been given a second chance.

The Croydon Advertiser was the first to report on the case of three Iranian protestors who had pitched a tent outside the UK Border Agency’s headquarters – but the case has since received global media coverage, including from CNN, the BBC and the Guardian

Its initial story attracted the attention of top immigration lawyer Hani Zubeidi and the organisation Medical Justice, who worked to create a new case for the men to put to the UKBA.

The three men, Keyvan Behari and brothers Mehran and Mahyar Meyari, have now been given leave to reapply for asylum in the UK because of their torture in Iran and this has led to them ending their hunger strike after 37 days.

Dr Gill Gillespie, co-founder of the Iranian Refugees Action Network, became involved in the case after reading about the demonstration on the Advertiser’s website.

She said: “If the Advertiser had not produced this article and the follow-ups, it would not have been brought to anyone’s attention and attracted all this support.”

Reporter Gareth Davies said he first found out about the asylum seekers when he noticed their tent on the way to another story and spoke to Mehran.

He said: “As the hunger strike continued I got in the habit of checking on them every couple of days. Beyond reporting the story I felt it was important to put them in touch with Croydon’s active human rights and welfare groups, who offered them support and advice.

“Not everyone was so supportive. Most of my roadside interviews with Mehran, his brother and Keyvan were interrupted by angry motorists driving past shouting things like ‘go home’. Each story we published online was dominated by angry anti-asylum comments.

“Then, two weeks into their protest, a man was charged with arson after attempting to set fire to their tent. Even this week a reader demanded I be sacked for writing ‘sympathetic’ stories about their protest.

“As a journalist you’re taught to be neutral but having spoken to them, seen the scars they have and lengths they were willing to go to in order to avoid deportation, being neutral wasn’t always easy.

“When I was told by one of the human rights groups I put them in touch with that their new lawyer had won them the right to reapply for asylum, I went down to see them for the final time.

“When I arrived they approached me, huge smiles on their faces, and shook my hands, thanking me for what I had done.

“I don’t think I did anything other than report the news but what they said gave me the sort of feeling which made me want to be a reporter in the first place.”