Gay Nicaraguan man wins deportation delay

Days before a gayNicaraguan man was set to be deported from Canada, he has been granted a two-month reprieve.

His bid for asylum was rejected on the basis that he couldn't prove his sexual orientation.

Alvaro Orozco, 21, was scheduled to be deported Tuesday, but the federal Justice Department agreed Friday to defer his removal by two months.

His lawyer, El-Farouk Khaki, plans to spend the time building Orozco's case for an application to stay on humanitarian and compassionate grounds.

He also plans to continue pressuring Immigration Minister Diane Finley to use her ministerial powers to stop the deportation.

Orozco, who now lives in Toronto,fled Nicaragua at the age of 12 for fear he would be targeted for his homosexuality in a country where sodomy is illegal.

An Immigration and Refugee Board adjudicator denied Orozco asylum because she didn't believe he was gay and that there was only a small chance he would be persecuted in his home country for his sexual orientation.