JAKARTA • A US journalist who has written stories about environmental destruction in Indonesia was deported on Friday after being arrested over alleged visa violations, his lawyer and his news outlet said.

Mr Philip Jacobson was detained 45 days earlier in Palangkaraya, the provincial capital of Central Kalimantan on Borneo island, according to a statement by environmental news provider Mongabay.

His detention was criticised by rights groups, which said it raised concerns over media freedom in the world's third-biggest democracy.

Mr Jacobson had entered Indonesia using a business visa for a series of meetings, the statement said. On the day he was due to leave, the immigration authorities confiscated his passport and later ordered him to remain in the city pending an investigation, it added.

The immigration authorities said he should have been on a journalism visa and he was formally arrested on Jan 21.

His lawyer Aryo Nugroho and Mongabay said his meetings there did not constitute journalism.

Under Indonesia's immigration law, Mr Jacobson could have faced up to five years in prison.

But after an outcry from activists and widespread media coverage, Indonesia's Chief Security Minister Mahfud MD said the journalist would be deported.

On his release, Mr Jacobson said: "It's good to be out of prison and I'm relieved the prospect of a five-year jail sentence is no longer something I have to contemplate."

In his role at Mongabay, Mr Jacobson worked on environmental stories, including some containing allegations that companies in Indonesia used falsified permits to clear out a vast area of rainforest in the easternmost region of Papua.

REUTERS