The brother of Guantanamo Bay detainee Omar Deghayes has labelled the British Government hypocritical after it sent a letter describing the detention centre as "unacceptable."

Responding in a letter to The Argus to a petition sent to the Foreign Office by campaigners for Mr Deghayes' release, minister Kim Howells wrote: "The British Government has made it clear it regards the circumstances in which detainees continue to be held in Guantanamo Bay as unacceptable. As the Prime Minister has said, Guantanamo Bay should be closed. The US Government knows our views. We welcome President Bush's continued commitment to close the Guantanamo Bay detention facility."

Mr Deghayes brother, Abubaker Deghayes, said: "I think that is a hypocrisy.

"If they really mean what they say they can help by bringing Omar home."

The letter also reiterated a Court of Appeal ruling that said the Foreign Secretary's decision not to request the release of Mr Deghayes, from Saltdean, and other British detainees was lawful.

Abubaker said in response: "If they take the judge's words exactly, he was saying it was not his place to tell the Government what they should do. The court heard about the suffering the detainees have been through and he said the British Government should interfere and help."

Originally from Libya, Mr Deghayes arrived in Britain with his family during the Eighties after his father was killed.

He was incarcerated at Guantanamo Bay by the US after he was captured by bounty hunters in Pakistan five years ago.

He has never been charged with any criminal offence and has been imprisoned without facing a trail.

Protesters held a vigil for him in Churchill Square, Brighton, yesterday evening.

For more information, visit www.save-omar.org.uk.

  • Guantanamo critics gather for peace vigil

Hundreds of demonstrators gathered around the world yesterday to call for the closure of the Guantanamo Bay military prison, five years after the first detainees arrived.

In London, protesters appeared blindfolded, gagged and clad in Guantanamo-style orange boiler suits outside the US Embassy and knelt in the so-called "stress"

position inmates are allegedly made to adopt.

Others at the Amnesty International event were dressed as military guards, complete with dogs.

The group was joined by Abubaker Deghayes, the brother of Omar Deghayes.

There were also protests in Edinburgh, Cardiff, Belfast and Birmingham, where activists gathered at the Hiatts factory, where the shackles used at Guantanamo are made.

In America, there was a rally in Washington DC and a vigil in New York. Events also took place in Tokyo, Rome, Madrid and Israel.

In total 775 men have been detained since 2002, with just under half, 79, released. Ten detainees were harged but none has gone to trial.