Britain rallies round Sierra Leone player who fears mutilation

0 Comments | AFP, December, 2007

LONDON (AFP) — A remarkable campaign of support is building in Britain behind a 19-year-old footballer who is facing deportation to his native Sierra Leone where he fears his life would be at danger from a witchcraft cult.

Alhassan 'Al' Bangura has packed plenty into four years in his adopted country, establishing a promising career with Watford, a club near London who hope to return to the top-flight Premiership next season, and becoming a father this month.

But Bangura is living on borrowed time, facing being sent back to the west African country he fled when he was 15 because he feared his father's links to a voodoo sect made him next in line for the men with the machetes.

His appeal to stay in Britain was rejected last week and he must now take his case...