CAMPAIGNERS in Southampton have just days to save a colleague from being deported back to Uganda where they fear he will be persecuted because of his sexuality.

John ‘Bosco’ Nyombi has been working with mentally ill people in the city for the past six years while his application to stay in the UK has been heard by the immigration authorities.

He fled to the country from Uganda where homosexuality is illegal and carries a punishment of life in prison. Bosco, as he is known, was also told his life could be in danger after his brother, a high-profile opposition campaigner, was murdered.

The 38-year-old was unexpectedly taken into custody this week after his last appeal was refused.

According to paperwork he has been given, he is due to fly back to Uganda on Sunday and has already been taken to an immigration centre in Dover.

Colleagues at Stoneham Housing Association, where he has worked almost since his arrival, are now launching a campaign including a petition, which they plan to send to the Home Office.

Friend and workmate Corina Piekaar said: “We just can’t believe this has happened. He has worked throughout his time here, paid tax and National Insurance and this is how he is treated. It’s disgraceful.

“He is such a lovely guy with a heart of gold. We just felt we needed to do something to stop this happening.”

Along with the campaign at work, friends at his local church in Portsmouth where he has been a regular member of the congregation for seven years, also held a prayer meeting last night.

Michael Woolley, co-ordinator of the Haslar Visitors’ Group that represents the interests of asylum seekers, said: “The way these arrests are carried out is disgraceful, without any chance to put affairs in order.

“John has signed regularly at a police station for years, and there is no reason to think he would abscond. Yet he was given no notice, no opportunity to pack a bag, to say goodbye to his friends or to sell his car.”