Campaigners fighting for the release of Guantanamo Bay prisoner Omar Deghayes are hoping he will be home by Christmas.

Mr Deghayes, a British resident who lived with his family in Saltdean for 15 years, celebrated his 38th birthday in captivity last week.

He has been held without charge in the US detention facility for more than five years.

Foreign Office officials requested his release in August but members of the Brighton-based Save Omar campaign said they had been frustrated by their lack of progress.

They said sources close to the Government have told them the former law student could now be released in late December or January.

It is understood negotiations between US and UK officials, wrangling over security arrangements for the suspected terrorist, have led to a delay in proceedings.

Campaigners have written to Foreign Secretary David Miliband asking him to explain why the process is taking so long.

Jackie Chase, of Save Omar, said: "We're hoping he'll be back before Christmas or at least January but we're disgusted it has taken this long.

"We were told by a representative of the US authorities in August that the Government only had to ask and their residents would be returned."

Campaigners have arranged a public meeting with the Right Rev John Hind, the Bishop of Chichester, local MPs and former US Army chaplain Jim Yee to step up pressure on the Government.

Yee entered Guantanamo as a patriotic US officer and Muslim chaplain. He ended up in shackles, branded a spy suspected of divulging secrets.

Celia Barlow, MP for Hove, has already written a letter to Mr Miliband about Mr Deghayes in which she complained she "couldn't detect any obvious progress" in the quest for his release.

Mrs Chase said: "We'd like some clarification as to what there is to negotiate and why these discussions have been so protracted.

"We're also talking to religious leaders and doctors who have spoken out against his incarceration because we know he's not safe in there."

Peace envoy Terry Waite and former Guantanamo prisoner Moazzam Begg, as well as Mr Miliband, have been invited to the meeting at Hove Town Hall on Monday, December 10.

Journalist Mark Thomas and MP Tony Benn have declined invitations but have sent messages of support.

Mr Deghayes came to Britain with his family from Libya in 1986, six years after his father Amer was allegedly killed by the Gaddafi regime - an incident reported by Amnesty International at the time.

He travelled from Britain to Afghanistan where he met and married an Afghan woman with whom he has a son, Suleiman.

Mr Deghayes was taken into custody, allegedly by bounty hunters, in Pakistan in 2002.

He has neither been charged or tried for any crimes during his five years in captivity.

The public meeting will begin at 7.30pm.

Leave your messages of support to Mr Deghayes' family below.