A CAMPAIGN has been launched in Bury to stop a charity fundraiser and volunteer being deported.

Friends say that asylum-seeker, Seid Ahmed, faces certain arrest, torture and possible death if he is forced to return to his homeland in Ethiopia.

Mr Ahmed, who is living in the Woolfold area, was told last month his application for asylum had been rejected.

Mr Ahmed has been a volunteer for Bury Oxfam Shop, the Asian Development Association of Bury and a member of Bury African Outreach. Recently, he completed a charity cycle ride to Blackpool to raise money for Bury Hospice.

Backed by the National Coalition of Anti-Deportation Campaigns, friends have launched the "Seid Ahmed Must Stay" campaign.

Mr Ahmed fled the African nation in January 2003, after being arrested and tortured for his membership of the political opposition party Oromo Liberation Front.

He said: "If I go back I will be arrested again."

"I had a good life in Ethiopia a good job as a civil servant. Do you think I would want to leave my wife and two children behind? I had no choice.

"If I could, I would go back to my country, but I cannot."

Mr Ahmed said his family have since been forced into hiding.

Since arriving in England, Mr Ahmed said he has tried to give something back to the "community that has made him feel so welcome. Because of my status, I am not allowed to take on paid work."

Among other voluntary work, he is training to become an advisor for the citizens advice bureau and is an invited member of the Bury Multi-Agency Forum.

Campaigner and friend, Mrs Pauline Roe, from Greenmount, said: "Seid would be in danger if he was sent back. He would make a huge contribution to Bury.

"We have organised a petition and when people hear of Seid's case they are happy to sign.

"We have also got the support of a number of churches and mosques.

"Many people from Bury have also written letters to David Blunkett and Des Browne, the Immigration Minister, asking them to look at this case again."

She added: "We are now appealing against the decision through a solicitor."

The Bury North MP, David Chaytor, said: "I feel that it is inappropriate to comment on individuals, but my main concern in every case is that the system should be applied fairly and the correct procedures employed."