Bid to save Cardiff's Bashir Naderi from deportation

Cardiff Central MP Jo Stevens and Bashir Naderi handed in the petition in London

A 14,000-signature petition to save a Cardiff man from being deported to Afghanistan has been presented to the Home Office.

Bashir Naderi, 20, had his deportation temporarily halted by a judge hours before he was due to board the plane in October.

He has lived in Wales for 10 years after his mother paid traffickers to bring him to the UK.

Girlfriend Nicole Cooper said the support had been incredible.

"I do not think it will have a huge impact on his case, but it is helping us: it symbolises that it is not just us, as a family, that are fighting for Bashir," Ms Cooper told BBC Wales.

"We didn't even know before this happened how people are treated, it has been horrifying to realise in such a horrific way that people go through this."

Singers Cerys Matthews and Charlotte Church are among those who have signed the petition demanding Mr Naderi be allowed to remain in Wales.

Mr Naderi, his girlfriend, family, friends and Cardiff Central MP Jo Stevens handed over the 500-plus page document to a Home Office official in London on Friday.

His solicitors are also hoping to submit his case for staying in the UK to the Home Office, but Ms Cooper said it could take up to three months for a decision to come back.

"They are going to push the Home Office for a quicker decision - he has been waiting for this for 10 years," she said.

"The last two months have just been the worst, the petition is something which is a more positive thing coming out of this situation."

His girlfriend Nicole said the decision had been "hanging over them" over Christmas and into the New Year

Bashir Naderi's case has been raised in Parliament

Mr Naderi, who celebrated his 20th birthday on New Year's Day, has lived in Cardiff since he was 10 but could be sent back to Afghanistan if his case is refused.

The Cardiff and Vale College student recently told BBC Wales that he saw his father murdered by Taliban fighters outside his home when he was nine.

"It happened right in front of me. If someone is being murdered right in front of you, you don't forget it," he said.

After the death, his mother sold the family plot of land so her son could be smuggled out of the country and brought to the UK. He does not know whether she is still alive.

Mr Naderi said he had no other family back in Afghanistan and feared for his own safety if he was forced to return.

"I just want to stay in this country. This is my home town where I belong with my family," he said.

The former pupil at Mary Immaculate Catholic School says he would not belong in Afghanistan and Cardiff was his home

Mr Naderi was arrested in October after reporting for a monthly sign-in at the Home Office and taken to a detention centre in Oxfordshire to await deportation.

He was given an initial 14-day reprieve just hours before he was due to be forced on to a plane, after a judge ordered his release.

He still has to report to the Home office every week while his case is being reviewed.

"Every time I go in I am scared, I am frightened I am not going to come out again," added Mr Naderi.

The Home Office said: "We do not routinely comment on individual cases."