Nay Myo Hein is facing deportation to Burma. (CBC)

A 25-year-old man in Saskatoon is hoping to win a stay of deportation, arguing his life would be in danger if he returned to Burma where he was forced to become a child soldier 13 years ago.

Nay Myo Hein told CBC News on Thursday he is worried about what the military government in Burma, also known as Myanmar, would do to him as an army deserter.

"I don't know. They will maybe kill me or send me to jail for 20 years or 40 years," Hein told CBC News in an interview. "That's the Burmese government."

He explained that he was kidnapped while at a train station when he was 12 years old and sent to a camp for child soldiers. That experience, he said, was traumatic.

"I'm really scared," Hein said. "I have nightmares."

He said he witnessed several brutal killings in the training camp.

'They will maybe kill me or send me to jail for 20 years.'—Nay Myo Hein, facing deportation to Burma

After nearly two years as a child soldier, he deserted the army. Then, for almost 10 years, Hein said he lived a secretive life in Burma.

In 2007, while working on a container ship that had docked off Canada's East Coast, Hein jumped ship and eventually made his way to Saskatoon, where he now lives with relatives.

"I really hoped to stay in Canada where my life is safe," Hein said. "I want to stay there because I really worry about my life."

Hein is scheduled to be deported Aug. 18 after his application for refugee status was rejected by authorities.

Supporters told CBC News the federal government made a mistake.

"I think, you know, the Canadian government, especially the people who are responsible for immigration decision making, are not aware [of] the real situation of his condition," Tin Maung Htoo, a member of the group Canadian Friends of Burma, told CBC News.

No risk of persecution: immigration board

The Immigration and Refugee Board determined that Hein faces no risk of persecution in Burma. But Htoo said Hein faces jail time because he deserted.

"He was a child soldier for two years. He was forcefully recruited to the army, and then he deserted after two years."

With the help of a lawyer, Hein has applied for a stay on the deportation order.

"I am scared now," Hein said. "If I go back to Burma ... I don't know what they going to do to me."

The application for a stay is scheduled to be heard Friday by a Federal Court judge.