Deportation of Cardiff man Bashir Naderi halted

A Cardiff teenager will not be deported to Afghanistan after a judge ordered it to be stopped just hours before his flight.

About 5,600 people signed a petition to stop Bashir Naderi, 19, who has lived in the city for nine years, from being removed from the UK on Monday.

Cardiff Central MP Jo Stevens said a judge ordered his removal to be halted before he boarded the plane.

The Home Office said it could not comment on individual cases.

Mr Naderi, of Cathays, was being transported in a van with security guards from Campsfield House, a detention centre in Oxfordshire, to Gatwick for the flight.

Mr Naderi had been scheduled to leave the UK on a flight at 16:45 GMT on Monday.

Cardiff Central MP Jo Stevens

Immigration minister Robert Goodwill is reviewing his case, Mrs Stevens told BBC Wales.

The 19-year-old could still be deported at a later date.

Mrs Stevens, who spent the weekend with his family, said Mr Naderi was "fully westernised" and would be an "immediate target" if he was deported.

She said his solicitors had launched a judicial review and she was continuing to work with his legal team to keep him in Cardiff permanently.

Mrs Stevens said: "I will be asking that Bashir is transferred to a removal centre as close as possible to Cardiff so Nicole, her parents and Bashir's former foster mum can visit.

"We've cleared the first hurdle but there is some way to go yet.

"The overwhelming support for Bashir of thousands of people in Cardiff, Wales and across the UK has been absolutely incredible and I thank every one of them."

Mrs Stevens said Mr Naderi fled Afghanistan aged 10 after his father was murdered by the Taliban and his mother sold their family's land to pay traffickers to bring him to the UK.

His girlfriend Nicole Cooper, 24, believes the Home Office is deporting him now he is an adult and has launched a petition calling on the home secretary to reconsider his case.