[Al Arabiya Latest] Israel expelled an American journalist working for a Palestinian news agency after detaining him for a week and banning him from contacting anyone, the Maan news agency said on Wednesday.
Jared Malsin, the English-language editor of Maan, said he was being placed on a flight to New York after he was randomly picked up and held at Tel Aviv's Ben Gurion airport for the past week.
"He sounded shaken and confused," said George Hale, a fellow journalist with Maan.
Israel was deporting Malsin based on "security" grounds stemming from his political beliefs, according to court documents attributed to Maan, although they do no mention any other details.
Malsin had appealed the expulsion order but apparently dropped the challenge on Tuesday without the knowledge of his lawyer, Maan said in a statement.
"Maan is deeply concerned that there was no lawyer present when Malsin apparently filed this independent motion," the private news agency said.
"Without jumping to conclusions, Maan wants to be sure these events did not take place under duress," it said, adding that Malsin's lawyer and relatives had been unable to reach him in the 24 hours before the deportation.
Malsin was detained on Jan. 12 upon returning from vacation in Prague and told he would be deported on security grounds, Hale said.
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