Councillors are demanding that Foreign Secretary Margaret Beckett meets the family and supporters of Guantanamo prisoner Omar Deghayes.

Mr Deghayes, 37, from Saltdean, has been held in a Camp Delta jail for more than four years without charge.

Alan McCarthy, chief executive of Brighton and Hove City Council, will now write to Ms Beckett requesting she meets his family as soon as possible to discuss his plight.

Councillor Francis Tonks delivered a 350-strong petition asking fellow members to do what they can to help Mr Deghayes.

He said: "Ms Beckett has to use her influence with the American authorities to bring him home.

"He has been in jail for four years without charge. If he isn't going to be charged he should be released. He has suffered enough."

Supporters are seeking a second meeting with the secretary of US Ambassador Robert Holmes Tuttle to discuss Mr Deghayes' release and physical condition.

So far only Red Cross doctors have been allowed to inspect prisoners at Guantanamo Bay and can give little information of their findings.

Lucy Carolan, Omar's sister-in-law, said: "After four-and-a-half years of horror stories it is important a British doctor gets to visit him, as well as his family.

"It is not like having your child in Lewes Prison. You can't visit. You can't give your son a hug and kiss and make sure he's eating ok."

Mr Deghayes arrived in the UK with his family from Libya after their father was killed by the Gadaffi regime in the Eighties.

All the family, including Mr Deghayes, were granted permanent leave to remain and most went on to apply for and acquire British passports and citizenship.

But Mr Deghayes did not and has now been stripped of leave to remain in the UK as he has been out of the country for more than a year.

Omar's brother Abubaker Deghayes said: "British citizens were released from Guantanamo Bay because of public pressure.

"I am grateful for everything Brighton people have done and are doing to bring Omar home.

"We are still scared he will be sent to Libya where my father was assassinated."

A legal appeal to determine Government responsibility for Mr Deghayes and two other British residents at the detention centre ended last week with judges undecided.

Supporters may have to wait until September for the Court of Appeal to declare whether Mr Deghayes is entitled to the help received by British citizens already freed from Guantanamo, following Foreign Office requests. Mr McCarthy will write to Ms Beckett on behalf of the council following a decision last week.