He is due to be deported to Gaza later this week.

The Palestinian Ambassador to Malaysia, Mr Abdul Elaziz Abu Ghoush, said yesterday that Osama R.M. Shublaq, 28, had tarnished the image of the Palestinians.

'The Palestinian government may want to press charges against Osama. I do not know what yet, as I am not a lawyer. Let the prosecutors decide,' Mr Abdul Elaziz told The Straits Times.

Malaysian prosecutors on Tuesday dropped a trespassing charge against Osama, an engineer, after the Palestinian embassy here appealed to the government to reconsider pressing charges.

He is now being held in an immigration detention camp pending deportation.

Mr Abdul Elaziz clarified that although Osama committed offences abroad, he could still be charged in Gaza.

Osama shocked Changi Airport ground crew when he fell out of a Boeing 777-200 nose wheel well after the plane arrived from Kuala Lumpur on Oct 11.

He was charged with entering Singapore without proper documents the following day.

But the charges were later dropped and he was sent back to Malaysia.

On Oct 23, he was charged with trespassing on the security area of the Kuala Lumpur International Airport (KLIA).

A senior officer in the Selangor prosecutor's office said the Attorney-General decided to drop the charges on condition that Osama was deported.

'What happens to Osama after that is up to the Palestinian authorities,' he said on condition of anonymity.

Osama's lawyer, Ms Latheefa Koya, said she hoped her client would not be charged.

'He's gone through a lot over the past month,' she told The Straits Times.

Ms Latheefa added that Osama told her that on the day of the incident, he had walked into the KLIA security area and climbed into the wheel well of the plane without knowing where it would take him.

She did not have details of how he avoided being captured on the airport's closed-circuit television cameras or how he gained access to the security area.

Osama, from Gaza, entered Malaysia on Sept 15 on a social visit pass after being misinformed that he could seek political asylum in Malaysia, she said.

She added that Osama had wanted to leave conflict-ridden Gaza.