LONDON, February 17 (IslamOnline.net & News Agencies) - A British permanent resident detained at the US military camp of Guantanamo was blinded in one of his eyes following a pepper assault by guards, his lawyer and family said Thursday, February 17.

Omar Deghayes, who fled to Britain from Libya in 1986, lost the sight in one eye after guards put pepper spray in both his eyes and gouged one eye socket, human rights lawyer Clive Stafford Smith was quoted by Agence France-Presse (AFP) as saying.

Smith has previously represented British nationals at the US base in Cuba, the last four of whom were released in January, also alleging mistreatment and torture after being freed.

Deghayes's mother, Zohra Zewawi, wept as Smith described how the alleged abuse meted out when guards entered his cell in March 2004.

“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. I can report that 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.”

Deghayes grew up in Brighton and studied law at Wolverhampton University and then in Huddersfield. His family said he had given sermons in a mosque condemning terrorism and violence in the name of Islam.

Smith, who did not give a motive for the assault, said that one of the guards also pushed his finger into Deghayes's eye, helping cause the loss of sight.

The US military had ordered that the claims he made to his lawyer during a visit to Guantanamo should be kept secret, but last week US censors declassified them.

Investigators have claimed Deghayes helped recruit young men in Brighton for “extremist groups”, and that he was involved in the Madrid bombings and the September 11 attacks.

But his brother, Taher Dehayes, 38, said: “He wouldn't harm a plant let alone innocent people.

“He has been blinded. It is terrifying what he has been going through. I’m amazed at his strength.

“I fear for him, that he's tortured, losing his dignity, and the biggest fear is if they send him back to Libya.”

His sister Amani Deghayes, 30, was quoted by the BBC News Online as saying he had always “cared about justice", and was “fair” and “well-meaning”.

Deghayes's mother said it was “laughable” to expect the Libyan government to push for the release of someone who had fled the country so long ago. He had been held at the base since early 2002, she added.

“I can't believe you can hold someone for three years in such terrible conditions without coming up with evidence,” she said.

The 35-year-old Deghayes came to Britain from Libya six years after his father was allegedly killed by the regime of Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi. He has the right to residency in Britain and has applied for full citizenship, his family said.

Campaigners have urged the British government to push for the release of up to seven British residents who do not hold British passports and are still held at Guantanamo Bay. Ministers, however, say they can do nothing for non-nationals.

Edward Nally, president of the Law Society, accused the government of abandoning Deghayes.

“Someone who lived in Britain since their teens should not fall into some black hole without any means of escape,” he was quoted by Evening Standard Web site as saying.

“It seems a very uncomfortable proposition to wash our hands of someone resident in this country for many years.”

The United States has denied claims of prisoner abuse, but it opened an investigation of alleged mistreatment of prisoners which is now believed to have been completed.

One of the detainees said his US captors coerced him into making a false confession of being member of Al-Qaeda and has given accounts of torture by American jailers at Bagram airbase in Afghanistan.

Another detainee held for years in the notorious Guantanamo detention camp complained of having been tortured by US jailers for reciting verses from the Noble Qur'an.