September 13, 2004, 4:29 PM EDT

NEWARK, N.J. -- The federal government has agreed to release a stowaway who had been among the nation's longest-held immigration detainees.

His lawyer said Salim Yassir is expected to be set free from a detention center within the next two weeks, and can stay in the United States until federal authorities find a country to which they can deport him.

Yassir had sued the government, claiming he could not be held indefinitely.

In papers filed Monday in U.S. District Court, Assistant U.S. Attorney Colette Buchanan said the court did not have to order Yassir's release because the government has already decided to let him go.

"He's kind of in shock about it," Yassir's lawyer, Joshua Bardavid said. "What he's been hoping for four years is finally happening. He's very, very happy and excited."

Bardavid said Yassir will stay at least temporarily at Christ House, a religious group facility in the Bronx, which will provide him with lodging, meals and living expenses until he can find a job on his own.

Yassir, who has been the cook at the detention center in Elizabeth where he has been held, hopes to find a similar job once he is released.

In August 2000, he was found hiding in a ship bound for Port Elizabeth, and turned over to federal immigration authorities, whom he asked for political asylum. A judge denied the application, so Yassir agreed to be deported.

Yassir, 28, is from Gaza City in the Gaza Strip, an area controlled by the Palestinian Authority. In order to send him back there, U.S. authorities would have needed permission from Israel, which does not have a repatriation agreement for Palestinians.

Authorities also have been unable to find a third country to accept him, although those efforts will continue. He will be able to stay in the United States until a country is willing to accept him, Bardavid said. The only thing that could allow him to stay here permanently is marrying a U.S. citizen and applying for an adjustment in his immigration status, the attorney said.

Yassir's situation is similar to that of another former detainee, Farouk Abdel-Muhti, who claimed that as a stateless Palestinian there was no nation to which he could legally be deported. He was held for nearly two years before being released in April, pending deportation, but died three months later.

In court papers, Buchanan said efforts to deport Yassir have been complicated because he cannot prove citizenship in any country.

The lawsuit seeking his freedom was taken to a federal appeals court in Philadelphia, which kicked the matter back to Newark. Monday was the deadline for government officials to respond to Yassir's request for an order granting his release.

Still to be determined are the conditions of his supervised release, which could include electronic monitoring, Bardavid said.

Copyright (c) 2004, The Associated Press

This article originally appeared at: http://www.newsday.com/news/local/wire/ny-bc-nj--four-yeardetainee0913sep13, 0,101426.story?coll=ny-ap-regional-wire

Visit Newsday online at http://www.newsday.com