Kelvin Bilal Fawaz, 29, arrived in the UK from Nigeria at the age of 14 and has represented England on six occasions, but the Home Office want to deport him.
An England boxer held in a detention centre pending deportation has been freed on bail after being locked up for 34 days - including Christmas and New Year.Kelvin Bilal Fawaz was being held in Tinsley House detention centre near Gatwick Airport, with the Home Office threatening deportation to Nigeria.
However, the 29-year-old was released late on Tuesday night after a judge heard his complex, 11-year case, reports the Telegraph
Fawaz, London's current middleweight boxing champion, arrived in the UK from Nigeria at the age of 14 and has represented England on six occasions - even against his birth nation.
He was sent to the UK by his parents at the age of 14 but was made a domestic slave by an uncle he was meant to be living with upon arriving here.Subsequently, he ran away, but Stonebridge boxing club in Brent, west London, helped him turn a turbulent youth of petty crime around to become a national champion.
He was taken to the detention centre on November 29 after eight undercover officers arrested him at the club in Stonebridge for failing to report to an immigration centre.
It came after the Home Office had rejected several applications for citizenship and rights and declared his marriage to a British citizen void.
But on Tuesday, he was granted bail after the Home Office was unable to say when it might be able to secure the necessary travel documents to deport him.
Fawaz is now staying at the London home of his coach Toks Owoh. Under his bail conditions, he must register every week at a Home Office centre in Hounslown and reside with Owoh.
Aamir Ali, a coach at the boxing gym in Stonebridge, had been campaigning on Fawaz's behalf. He said the boxer is now suffering from depression brought on by his ordeal.
He told the Telegraph: "Part of the Home Office justification of keeping him locked up was because of petty crimes he committed four years ago - but the judge saw that he hasn't committed anything recently and he's turned his life around for boxing and helping train kids at the club."
The hold-up in the Home Office securing the necessary deportation documents is reportedly down to the Nigerian High Commission refusing their application three times.
It is said to claim that while Fawaz - whose dad was a Lebanese immigrant and mum was from Benin - was born in Nigerian, he is not a citizen there.
A Home Office spokesman said it had reviewed Fawaz's applications several times, that they do not consider him 'stateless' and there was no case for him to remain in the country.
Speaking to getwestlondon from the detention centre last month, Bilal said: "I've spent over half of my life here.
"I went to school here, I lived here, I've boxed for England five or six times and never lost.
"I am a national champion - in 2014 I even boxed for England against Nigeria, the country they want to deport me to."
Ali said they will now speak to the Nigerian High Commission with a view to getting a judicial review.
Fawaz's team say the Home Office should now take into consideration that he is suffering with depression and that Nigeria are refusing to recognise him as a citizen.
A petition letter to keep Fawaz in the UK has more than 12,100 signatures.
VIA mirror.co.uk
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