By Lisa Mitchell BBC News Online

As 30 failed Afghan asylum seekers are forcibly flown home, hundreds of their countrymen are wondering if they are next. Mohamed Nazri made a torturous journey to the UK in 2001 and has leave to remain until 2005. After that his future is uncertain.

Mohamed left Kabul behind but his family still live there

Mohamed Nazri's mother sold the family home in Kabul for $9,000 (�5,600) in 2001 and she gave every penny to an agent to smuggle her teenage son to England.

Her husband had been imprisoned by the Taleban and she feared the same fate for Mohamed.

He made the long journey overland in vans and buses before arriving "somewhere in Europe" where he was sealed with nine others into a hidden compartment in a lorry carrying car engines.

After 12 hours in the cramped, airless chamber, he remembers he did not care if he had made it to the UK when the doors were finally opened. He just wanted to be able to breathe.

I miss my family and I want to go home - but not until I feel free in Afghanistan Mohamed Nazri

Watching the film In This World last week at his local cinema in Salford where he now lives, Mohamed was reduced to tears.

In the film a 14-year-old Afghan boy makes an almost identical trip from a refugee camp on the Pakistan border.

When his lorry is opened, only he and a baby have survived. The others, including his cousin, have suffocated.

"I remember thinking, I'm going to die in five minutes inside this lorry," said Mohamed.

"There was no oxygen left. I was shouting to open the doors and when they did I was laughing.

"I didn't care that there was a police officer there, I had another life.

"I didn't cry ever on that whole journey but that movie was so real, it was me."

Visa expires

Now working as a liaison officer for a project which links Afghan asylum seekers and Salford NHS, the 22-year-old says many people have a similar tale.

And the 30 who are being deported will have faced the same hurdles to get here.

"They will feel terrible being made to go back," he said.

"Lots of people's families have been executed and they may have been persecuted themselves before they left."

Mohamed's father is a "famous politician" who was imprisoned by the Taleban for supporting a more democratic party.

He was released by American troops but still has enemies. "Everyone fears someone in Afghanistan," Mohamed said.

At first Mohamed could not understand the Salford accent

He says he speaks to his family and friends in Kabul and the situation is still too dangerous for him to return.

"I miss my family - I have four brothers and three sisters - and I want to go home. But not until I feel free in Afghanistan."

In the meantime, he is helping other refugees settle into Manchester and Salford.

"I was sent to Salford when I arrived at Dover," he said.

"I could speak English, but it was American. I thought they spoke a different language in Salford when I arrived. I couldn't understand anything."

That experience and a year of voluntary work means he can relate to the people he works with through the Rapar refugee project in Salford.

He has enrolled in college to study social work from September and hopes to apply for citizenship when his leave to remain visa expires.