An American expert on terror in Indonesia said yesterday that she would be deported and likely barred from returning, drawing concern from the favourite to win July?s presidential elections and criticism from Washington.

The Brussels-based International Crisis Group think-tank blasted the move against its Jakarta director, Sidney Jones, which follows an attack by Indonesia?s intelligence chief on her reports on terrorism and separatism in the world?s most populous Muslim nation.

Jones said the immigration department had given her and an Australian colleague at the think-tank, analyst Francesca Lawe-Davies, a deportation order late on Tuesday.

?The order says leave immediately but we looked up the legal provisions and it looks like we have a seven-day grace period but I think we?ll leave over the weekend?, Jones said.

Immigration spokesman, Ade Dahlan, said he was unaware of any deportation order, adding he understood Jones had to leave on June 10 when her work permit expired.

The row follows other attempts in recent years to stifle criticism of President Megawati Sukarnoputri?s government.

Campaigning for the July 5 elections in eastern Indonesia, presidential frontrunner and former chief security minister, Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, said he did not know all the details but the government had to explain what was going on. ?Don?t let the world think our democracy is not growing because of poorly explained cases. If it is connected to a legal violation, please elaborate?, he said.

A U.S. embassy spokesman in Jakarta added: ?Such an expulsion, if it were to take place, would be particularly disappointing because it would stand in stark contrast to the impressive progress made by Indonesia in recent years in developing a democratic civil society.?