A petition supporting a popular Afghan student who is fighting to stay in the UK has gathered close to 100,000 signatures.

Murad Khan was seized from his east coast home in October and taken to a detention centre, sparking an immediate campaign amid fears he would be deported.

The East Norfolk Sixth Form College student was released and lodged an appeal to stay in his Lowestoft home.

His hearing, which was due to be held in December, has now been pushed back until April.

Until then staff, teachers and fellow pupils have thrown their weight behind the petition, which calls on the government to allow the 18-year-old to stay in his adopted home.

Emma Herod, English and religious studies teacher at the Gorleston college, started the petition - which will be sent to home secretary Teresa May - and said the campaign was going 'brilliantly', with more than 92,000 signatures.

'It really picked up over the Christmas and New Year period and we had quite a lot of notable websites get involved via Twitter, so word has spread quite quickly,' she added.

Miss Herod said Murad was now concentrating on preparing a statement for his hearing and outlining his family's plight in Afghanistan, as well as his journey as an asylum seeker, to help back his case to stay in the UK.

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