GORDON Brown has agreed to urgently review the case of the Iranian woman from Bournemouth who says she will face the death penalty if she is deported home.

The plight of 29-year-old Samar was raised by Conservative MP Ann Widdecombe during Prime Minister's Questions yesterday on another day of dramatic developments.

Miss Widdecombe had been moved to bring the case to the House of Commons following a phone call from Daily Echo religious affairs correspondent Ruth Oliver.

The Prime Minister's agreement to look at the case "immediately" has delayed Samar's deportation for a second time.

Mr Brown told Miss Widdecombe in the Commons: "I will look at the case you have brought to me and we will look at it in detail immediately.

"It is our policy not to deport to countries where torture has been practised."

Samar continues to be held in a detention centre, though there is no date or time currently set for her departure.

Speaking from the centre yesterday, Samar said: "I feel a bit better than Monday, but I won't be relieved until I'm out of here. I can't really count on the decision.

"I'm so thankful for all the prayers and support of everybody from all over the world."

Bournemouth East MP Tobias Ellwood, who worked to secure Samar's first reprieve late on Friday night, warned there was "still some way to go".

He said: "This is just one chapter, not a conclusion.

"We are not there yet. I worked solidly on Samar's case all day but we got a result and that was the main thing."

Samar, a former student at Poole and Bournemouth College, converted to Christianity to escape an arranged marriage before leaving Iran for the UK more than three years ago.

She has been refused asylum and claims a document issued by the Islamic Revolutionary Court states she will be stoned to death on her return home for her change of faith.

After Mr Ellwood secured the 11th-hour reprieve on Friday, the Home Office rejected her case to appeal the decision and was due to deport her before yesterday's intervention.

The Home Office stated it was satisfied Samar's asylum and human rights application had been "properly and fairly considered", and her circumstances were below the required threshold to "constitute being at real risk if persecution on return to Iran".