A man in an orange boiler suit and black hood cut a lonely figure on the seafront on Christmas Day.

He sat near the West Pier, Brighton, from 11am until the evening, in a bid to remind people of the plight of Omar Deghayes, from Saltdean.

Mr Deghayes has been held without charge at American military base Camp Delta in Guantanamo Bay for more than four years.

Protesters from the Save Omar campaign took it in turns to stand near the pier and wear the costume through the day. They also handed out leaflets and chatted to interested passers-by.

Campaigners said they had chosen Christmas Day because of the parallels they believe there are between Jesus and Omar - both refugees who were tortured for political ends.

Martin Nichols said: "I think it is a timely protest which chimes resonantly with the Christmas story."

The protest was held days after Government ministers refused to ask for the release of Mr Deghayes because they believe they would be rebuffed by the United States.

Campaigners for the release of the detainee have rejected claims that the US and UK governments have not been in negotiations over Mr Deghayes.

But Foreign Office Minister Lord Triesman, speaking in the House of Lords, said the UK had become convinced the US Government would be "very likely to resist any request" to release the former Sussex resident.

He warned: "Lobbying would make it more difficult for the UK to engage with the US on wider issues of detainee policy, including our wish to see the Guantanamo Bay facility closed."

Lord Triesman repeated the Government's line that it was its "long-standing policy" not to offer consular assistance to non-British nationals except where there were special agreements with other states.

But organisers of the Save Omar campaign said Ministers' arguments had become "double-speak" after they were told the US had already asked the British Government if it would take Mr Deghayes home under house arrest.

Louise Purbrick, of Save Omar, said: "It's the same argument they've used before, which I think is really odd because we know the US has already offered to release Omar.

"It's like they are reading from a public position that doesn't take on board what we know has happened. It's double-speak, really."

Lord Triesman cited a Court of Appeal judgment in a legal challenge brought by supporters of Mr Deghayes and other former British residents.

This "confirmed there is no duty on the Foreign Secretary . . . to make the formal request for release and return from Guantanamo Bay sought by those detainees".

He was responding to a question from Lord Hylton, who asked why the British Government could not make an exception to the rule for former British residents "held for a long time without charge or trial at Guantanamo Bay".

But statements from senior Foreign Office and Home Office officials, obtained by The Guardian newspaper in October, revealed the US had already raised the possibility of Britain "taking back" the remaining detainees in return for watching them closely and prevent them leaving the country.

The British response was reportedly cool, with William Nye, director of counter-terrorism and intelligence at the Home Office, saying detainees did not pose "sufficient threat to justify the devotion of the high-level of resources" the US would require.