Supporters of Guantanamo Bay detainee Omar Deghayes have welcomed the Prime Minister's call for the controversial US military camp to be closed.

Tony Blair, speaking at his monthly Press conference in Downing Street, said: "It is an anomaly.

"I have said it should end, and sooner rather than later."

Pressed by journalists on whether he believed the camp warranted his personal intervention, the Prime Minister said: "Well that assumes that there has been no personal action and commitment on it."

A Foreign Office source told The Argus it was a clear indication Mr Blair had lobbied US President George Bush to shut down the camp at the earliest opportunity.

For several years the Government publicly refused to help Mr Deghayes and eight other British residents held in the prison because, although most had lived in the UK for many years, they are refugees and do not hold UK passports.

The British citizens who were held at the camp were released without charge.

Jackie Chase of the Save Omar campaign, which is seeking justice for Guantanamo detainee and former Brighton resident Omar Deghayes, welcomed Mr Blair's support.

She said: "We are delighted to hear the Prime Minister is talking to the Americans about this and we hope the special relationship will prevail.

"But we want reassurances from Home Secretary Charles Clarke that Omar will be allowed to return to the UK."

Earlier this month another British resident was released from Guantanamo but was sent to Uganda, from which he had fled at the age of 14, after being refused entry to the UK.

Friends are said to be worried for his safety.

Mr Deghayes, a 36-year-old law graduate from Saltdean, has spent four years in Guantanamo Bay despite not having been charged with a crime.

Last week The Argus called on Mr Blair to intervene and put pressure on the US to give Mr Deghayes a fair trial.

A dossier including excerpts from The Argus' coverage of the case, a signed statement from Mr Deghayes' MP Des Turner and a copy of a Brighton and Hove City Council motion unanimously passed last March calling on the Government to take action has been sent to Number 10.