ASIO cancels humanitarian aid worker's passport Stranded: Khadija's brother is stuck in Turkey. An Erskineville man who travelled to Turkey to offer humanitarian aid to Syrian refugees has been left stranded overseas without any valid travel documents, his sister says, after Australia's domestic spy agency ASIO suddenly cancelled his passport. Khadija, the sister of the 27-year-old former security guard known as Alex, said she received a letter in the mail at her inner-west home just weeks ago, advising that his passport had been cancelled because he was likely to engage in politically motivated violence if he travelled overseas. The problem is, she says, her brother had already left months before, had gotten married and has been working in refugee camps near the Syrian border. "He was in shock when I told him on the phone," Khadija said. He has no way of getting back. He is trapped. Lawyer Zali Burrows, who is acting for Alex, said that ASIO must have known he was already overseas when the letter was sent. "Effectively, he has been left in limbo," she said. Alex is one of more than 20 people across Sydney that have had their passports suddenly cancelled by ASIO. Ms Burrows is taking legal action on their behalf to have those decisions reviewed. An ASIO spokesman said that cancelling a passport while an Australian is overseas can be done to "help prevent an Australian already overseas from participating - or further participating - in activities that are prejudicial to the security of Australia or another country." But he said the cancellation of an Australian passport does not affect a citizen's rights to request Australian consular assistance and Australians overseas seeking assistance should contact their nearest Australian embassy. Fairfax Media revealed last week that the men had been accused of being prepared to "engage in politically motivated violence" if they were allowed to travel overseas or of having a "jihadi mentality" that made them a threat to national security. Australia's intelligence agencies believe that more than 100 Australians have already travelled overseas to fight with groups such as Jabhat al-Nusra in Syria. Representatives of the group who had their passports cancelled have spoken out about it, saying they are outraged at the infringement of their human rights. Two more young men of Afghan descent came forward last week saying they had a visit from ASIO agents the night before they were due to travel to Singapore earlier this year. The group of three, two of whom had been friends from school, had wanted to travel for a holiday during their gap year. The young men aged 18, 19 and 20, are angry at their treatment and say it is only because they are Muslim. They are also frustrated, saying the cancellation of their passports has meant the loss of a job for one of them as well as other repercussions. One of the men, Abu Musab, said he had been accused of making phone calls to militants overseas. "I have only called my mother and my brother," he said, "Where is the proof? Where is the evidence? Khadija said her brother had been targeted by ASIO previously, since converting to Islam when he was a 16-year-old, but he had never been charged with anything.