Guantanamo detainee Omar Deghayes will never be released as long as the war on terror continues, an MP said.

Mr Deghayes, from Saltdean, has been held without charge for almost four years in the US military prison Camp Delta in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, since being arrested in Pakistan in early 2002.

Brighton Kemptown MP Des Turner spoke after Mr Deghayes' family met US government officials in London in an unsuccessful bid to get a commitment to release him.

Dr Turner said: "There isn't any reason to believe Omar Deghayes will be released in the near future because the Americans seem to want to keep prisoners there as long as the conflict is ongoing."

Dr Turner organised the meeting on Tuesday between Mr Deghayes' family, 20 members of the Save Omar campaign and Richard Bell, first secretary to the US ambassador Robert Holmes Tuttle.

Afterwards, he said: "We discussed a whole range of issues surrounding Guantanamo but he made it quite clear he could not discuss individuals.

"It's given campaigners tenuous reasons at best to feel positive, in that at least they are talking to these people but this has gone on for four years."

Abubaker Deghayes handed Mr Bell a copy of his brother's hunger-strike diary in the hope he would understand how the 37-year-old detainee and his family were suffering.

He said: "I asked Mr Bell to read it as a human being, not a US official. He has feelings and I think he would be upset by what he finds."

Dr Turner called on the US embassy to allow a Parliamentary delegation to visit and inspect Camp Delta to check on British residents, including Mr Deghayes.

Jackie Chase, spokeswoman for the Save Omar campaign, said: "We were disappointed with Mr Bell's interpretation of George Bush's statement that Guantanamo should close.

"He stated, I don't think it means I intend to close Guantanamo soon'."

Mr Deghayes arrived in the UK with his family during the Eighties after his father was assassinated in Libya.

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.

Mr Deghayes did not do so 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.

Louise Purbrick, of Save Omar, said: "We presented quite a good case and I think he was surprised how knowledgeable we were.

"It's just become a matter of having to grind them down and make sure they know we are not going away."

Brighton and Hove City Council has asked Foreign Secretary Margaret Beckett to visit Brighton for a meeting with Mr Deghayes' relatives and supporters.