MPs are stepping up the campaign against the detention of Omar Deghayes in Guantanamo Bay.

Des Turner, Labour MP for Brighton Kemp Town, will submit a motion to the House of Commons later this month calling on the United States to bring charges against the former law student or release him.

Mr Deghayes, 35, who grew up in Saltdean, has been held in solitary confinement at Camp Delta in Cuba since he was arrested in Pakistan nearly three years ago.

Amnesty International has described the prison, which still holds about 520 prisoners from 40 countries, as "the Gulag of our time" and says there is mounting evidence of torture and inhuman and degrading treatment at the camp.

Mr Deghayes' lawyer, Clive Stafford-Smith, says his client lost his sight in one eye after being tortured by American guards.

Dr Turner will urge MPs of all parties to sign his motion in support of Mr Deghayes. Brighton and Hove's two other MPs, David Lepper and Celia Barlow, have agreed to put their names to it.

Dr Turner said: "I will be calling on Mr Blair to put pressure on Bush to close down Guantanamo.

"I will support anyone banged up in that horrible place.

"I think it's important this camp is closed down as soon as possible and if they have suspects they should either charge them and bring them to trial, not through a closed military court but through the due process of law, or release them. To keep them in cages at Guantanamo Bay is quite inhuman."

The MP said he would also write to President Bush and Foreign Secretary Jack Straw calling for the detainee to be given his full legal rights.

Supporters of Mr Deghayes, who last week called on MPs to do more to help, welcomed Dr Turner's motion.

Tariq Jung, a founder member of the Brighton and Hove Muslim Forum, said: "This a wonderful move and shows MPs don't want to forget Muslims in Brighton and Hove. It will make a lot of people think more positively about the campaign and it could make a big difference."

Last week Mr Deghayes wrote to friends thanking the people of Sussex for their support.

The Government maintains because he is a refugee rather than a British national it is unable to assist him. The Deghayes family fled to the UK from Libya after their father was killed, allegedly for his political beliefs. Campaigners fear Mr Deghayes could be murdered if he is returned to Libya.

Supporters of Mr Deghayes staged a rally on Friday outside Dr Turner's weekly surgery, the latest in a series of demonstrations in Brighton over the past few months in support of the detainee.