A council has been urged to campaign for a fair trial for a former Sussex student held in Guantanamo Bay.

Omar Deghayes, a 35-year-old Libyan refugee brought up in Saltdean, has been detained by the American military in Camp Delta, Cuba, since 2002.

A resolution drawn up by the Green Party to press the British Government to intervene is winning cross-party support ahead of its presentation at a meeting of Brighton and Hove City Council next Thursday.

Mr Deghayes' family and lawyer insist he has no links to terrorism.

But because he is not a British citizen, the Government has claimed it has no power to lobby his US captors for his release.

The motion to the council states: "He has not been told what the charges against him are, no trial has been conducted and his access to legal representation has been limited.

"Since his incarceration, it is reported he has lost the sight in one eye following a pepper-spray attack by guards.

"This council is charged with the city's social well-being and acknowledges the harm and distress this detention is causing to Mr Deghayes' family, particularly to his mother who is still a Saltdean resident."

Green councillor Keith Taylor, who proposed the motion, said: "Everyone is entitled to a fair trial.

"It is important Mr Deghayes is returned to England, not Libya, where his own father was assassinated 25 years ago and from where he too has received death threats."

Of all the party leaders, only Labour's Ken Bodfish has refused to support the motion.

He said: "There's an issue about how people have been treated at Guantanamo and everyone should have a proper trial but I'm conscious there is a terrorist threat and we have to be mindful of that."