A WOMAN'S deportation back to Iran has been halted at the eleventh hour following last-minute talks between a Bournemouth MP and the Home Secretary.

Just two-and-a-half hours before boarding a plane, Samar, who converted to Christianity before she left Iran originally, was granted a Stay of Departure.

The move followed an impassioned plea from Bournemouth East MP Tobias Ellwood to Home Secretary Jacqui Smith amid fears that Samar could be put to death for her religion on her return to Iran.

Speaking to the Echo from a detention centre she said: "I am so relieved I have a second chance, you can't imagine how I am feeling."

"It was horrible being told by immigration at Heathrow that the final decision was that I had to go. No-one official told me about the turnaround, but I was so relieved when my friends in Bournemouth phoned with the news. I am hopeful now."

She called the friends in Bournemouth who had campaigned for her "angels,"

adding: "This has made me realise that there are good people in this world."

Mr Ellwood said: "I am delighted to say that, after getting through directly to Number 10, the Home Secretary agreed to look at the death threat on Samar.

"This new evidence will be looked at early this week."

Samar, 30, a former Bournemouth and Poole College student, is still being held at the detention centre as she awaits a final decision on her fate.

Her friends, John and Claire Dallison from Bournemouth, who have been campaigning to help Samar stay in this country, are prepared to put up bail for her release.

A copy of a death warrant on Samar, which states that anyone who "backslides" deserves to be "stoned to death", has been sent to the immigration department together with an appeal application. The warrant was issued on May 21 by the Islamic Revolutionary Court.

Claire said: "We have our miracle. Half an hour earlier I was told that Samar's appeal application at the Immigration Department had been rejected."

She added: "I would have done the same for any friend of mine, regardless of their faith, if a person's life is at stake."