The son of Prime Minister Tony Blair has lent his support to the campaign to close Campsfield House detention centre.

Nicky Blair, 20, a second-year history undergraduate at Lady Margaret Hall, is chairman of Oxford University Labour Club. In a piece on the club's website, written with co-chair Phil Patterson, he endorses the student campaign against the Government's detention centre in Langford Lane, Kidlington.

Ten detainees are refusing food in protest at the long waiting periods for the outcome of their asylum claims and at the policies of a new management company.

This follows protests last summer when 16 failed asylum seekers went on hunger strike in protest against being sent back to Zimbabwe, where they feared they would be tortured.

The Prime Minister's son invited students to attend a panel held earlier this month about Campsfield, with the question "Are you aware of the human rights abuses that go on every day in Britain?

"Twenty-five thousand innocent people were locked up indefinitely and without trial last year alone, 350 have attempted suicide in the last five years up to 40 per cent higher than is normal."

Teresa Hayter, a spokesman for the Campaign to Close Campsfield, thanked everyone who had shown concern over the way that Campsfield House and other detention camps were being run in the United Kingdom.

A spokesman for the detainees added: "Some people have been in detention for a few months but others have been confined for more than two years with no knowledge of when they will be released.

"Most of the people in detention are genuine asylum seekers who have fled their country of origin because they have been persecuted, tortured, or face death."

Campsfield operator GEO could not be contacted for comment last night.