Cross-party backing for Cardiff man's deportation battle

Bashir Naderi's foster mother Dawn Jackson (second from right)

AMs from all four assembly party groups gathered in Cardiff Bay wearing blue ribbons to back a campaign to save a 19-year old from Cardiff being deported to his Afghanistan home-land.

Bashir Naderi, who has lived in the UK for nine years, had his deportation stopped by a judge in October.

Labour AM Jenny Rathbone said the cross-party support for an "exemplary" man was "very heart warming".

A petition supporting Mr Naderi has gathered more than 11,000 signatures.

Mr Naderi, who was a painting and decorating student at Cardiff and Vale College until his threatened deportation, is with his adopted family in Cathays.

His solicitors have launched a judicial review and Cardiff Central MP Jo Stevens is working with his legal team to keep him in the city permanently.

Labour, Plaid Cymru, Conservative and UKIP AMs came together on the steps of the Senedd on Wednesday in support of the "Stand Up for Bash" campaign.

Ms Rathbone said: "People realise that this [the deportation] is not an appropriate decision.

"This guy is exemplary, it's not as if he's done something wrong.

"If he had committed a crime it would be completely different, but he hasn't at all."

UKIP's David Rowlands said: "This was quite an appalling situation where someone has been in this country for so long, can find himself being forced out of the country.

"There should be a mechanism whereby on a case by case basis its looked at. I think it ought to be looked at sympathetically."