Afghan teenager Najibullah Hashimi has been released from an immigration removal centre in Dover.

The 18-year-old was set to be deported to his homeland on Monday night.

But a campaign was launched, calling for the popular Sittingbourne Community College student to remain here.

Speaking just after being released, he said: "I am so happy. It was 2.30pm they came in and said ‘You’re going to be released about 4pm’.

"I rang my foster father [Steve Griffiths] straight away and said that I was leaving and to pick me up.

"I was jumping around. I wasn’t worried about them changing their minds because they said it was 100% that I was going. But I didn’t pack until 3.50pm just in case."

More than 2,300 people had signed an online petition backing the teenager, who had unsuccessfully appealed to remain in Britain.

A relieved Mr Griffiths said: "I’m keeping him under wraps for a little while; we’re very happy."

Speaking this afternoon, MP Gordon Henderson, who is lobbying on the student’s behalf, said he had been told by the UK Border Agency that Najibullah would be released while he appeals deportation.

"i was jumping around. i wasn’t worried about them changing their minds because they said it was 100% that i was going. but i didn’t pack until 3.50pm just in case" – naj hashimi

His case is being reassessed and he must report to immigration officers every two weeks.

The teenager had previously argued that he fears he will be killed if he returns to the homeland he fled in 2006, and that he had made a new life for himself here.

But the Home Office ordered his removal.

The keen cricketer, his mother, sister and uncle fled the northern Afghan city of Baghlan and moved to Pakistan after his father and brother were killed by an "area commander".

Three years later, news reached them that this man had tracked them down.

As a result, they decided the teenager would flee to England.

He arrived on February 27, 2009, aged 14, on the back of a lorry in Dover.

After a short stay in Ashford he was moved to a foster family in Sittingbourne before finally being taken in by Mr Griffiths and his wife Michelle in Faversham.

He barely spoke a word of English, but is now fluent in the language.

The teenager, who has been living independently since he turned 18, has 13 GCSEs under his belt and is in his last year of studying towards a Level 3 BTEC diploma in sport.