A MAN who studied at the University of Huddersfield has been blinded in one eye by American military police at Guantanamo Bay, his lawyer claimed.

Omar Deghayes' family has appealed for the British Government to intervene and secure his release, almost 25 years to the day since his father was assassinated by Colonel Gaddafi's regime in Libya.

The family of the former British law student held in Guantanamo Bay wants the government to help secure his release.

But there are concerns that Deghayes, 35, whose family is from Brighton, has links with international terror groups.

He has been held at the military base in Cuba since 2002.

He moved to Pakistan after the New York terror attacks and was arrested there.

American and European investigators have claimed his prison visits to Muslims in Sussex, ostensibly while working for the police, were a cover for other activities in Brighton.

It is alleged that he helped to recruit and direct people towards groups linked to Al Qaeda.

There are also claims that he was involved in the Madrid bombings and the September 11 attacks.

But the student's lawyer claims he has been the subject of abuse in Guantanamo, including being blinded with pepper spray, information that has only just been `declassified'.

Mr Deghayes' mother Zohra Zewawi, of Brighton, wept as lawyer Clive Stafford Smith described the injuries the detainee has allegedly suffered at the base.

He said: "In March 2004 the Emergency Reaction Force in Camp Delta came into his cell.

"They brought their pepper spray and held him down.

"They held both of his eyes open and sprayed it into his eyes and later took a towel soaked in pepper spray and rubbed it in his eyes.

"Omar could not see from either eye for two weeks, but he gradually got sight back in one eye.

"He's totally blind in the right eye. His right eye is all white and milky - he can't see out of it because he has been blinded by the US in Guantanamo."

The detainees' brother Taher Deghayes, 38, who runs a fibreglass factory in Dubai, and sister Amani Deghayes, 30, joined their mother in asking Foreign Secretary Jack Straw to step up diplomatic efforts to secure either his fair trial or release.