Orange badges have been made to highlight the plight of a Guantanamo detainee.

The Save Omar group, lobbying for the trial or release of Omar Deghayes, a Saltdean man who has been held at Camp Delta since 2002, is asking people to wear badges bearing his prison number.

The Argus has joined the campaign demanding that the British Government intervene and pressure the US to put Mr Deghayes on trial or let him go.

The 36-year-old law graduate has been in solitary confinement for most of his time in Guantanamo and claims to have suffered severe beatings, mental torture, humiliation and religious abuse.

He has not been charged with a crime and has not seen or spoken to family or friends since his capture in Pakistan in 2001.

He and more than 200 other inmates are currently in the sixth week of a hunger strike which it is feared could kill prisoners within days.

Jackie Chase of the Save Omar campaign said: "We know from the responses to The Argus campaign for justice for Omar that a lot of people want to play their part in getting him out of that terrible place and allowing him to return home to his family.

"Being referred to as a number is by no means the worse thing that has happened to Omar in Guantanamo but it is a sign of the dehumanising practices of the US prison regime.

"Wearing his number - 727 - is a way of showing that while his hunger strike continues he is not out of our thoughts."

The badges were produced at Brighton Resource Centre, in Tilbury Place, Brighton, which provides low-cost printing facilities to community groups.

They were paid for by donations from Siobhan Hier and Henry Harron, Brighton members of the Irish in Britain Representation Group, which campaigned for the release of the Birmingham Six and Guildford Four.

Mr Harron, 45, said: "At times of heightened conflict, such as we saw in Ireland and Britain during The Troubles, mistakes are made and the price is usually paid by innocent people. The Birmingham Six spent 16 years in jail.

"If there is a chance to release someone wrongly accused and falsely imprisoned, we must take it."

People can pick up the badges at Brighton Peace and Environment Centre in Surrey Street, Brighton, or at the Save Omar fringe meeting between 6pm and 8pm tonight at the Friends' Meeting House in Ship Street, Brighton. For more information call 07854188565.