A campaigning pensioner will put his life on the line when he heads to Iraq as a "human shield" next month.

Karl Dallas is volunteering in an 'international peace mission' to protect families and avert the threat of war.

The 72-year-old former journalist starts the seven-day coach journey from Bradford to Baghdad on Saturday, February 15.

He will join more than 1,000 people from around the world on the mission being run by a group called Human Shield.

"I have always been opposed to all dictatorship. I am not going to support Saddam Hussein. I am going because I don't believe bombing people into the stone age is the solution to problems in the Middle East," he said.

"If there are thousands of westerners on the streets of Baghdad I hope it will dissuade the Americans from bombing."

In July last year Mr Dallas worked in the occupied Palestinian city of Nablus as a volunteer with the International Solidarity Movement.

He was injured when a stun grenade, thrown by an Israeli soldier, exploded three feet away from him. The noise of the blast has left him struggling to hear high frequency sounds.

Mr Dallas was told he had to wait up to two years for an assessment to see if he could be fitted with a digital hearing aid by Bradford Hospitals NHS Trust.

But Mr Dallas, of Manning-ham, has not been put off.

"I see my journey to Baghdad as a continuation of the struggle for peace and justice in the Middle East," he said.

"I will be there as long as it takes. I am planning an indefinite stay," said Mr Dallas, who appealed for people to pray for the safe return of all those involved in the mission.

"I want to do anything I can to make people's lives better."