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British officials have met with a detained journalist in Gaza amid calls on Monday for Hamas to release the Briton, the first foreigner the Islamists have arrested since seizing power in 2007.
Paul Martin was arrested on Sunday in a Gaza Strip courtroom while testifying for a Palestinian friend accused of "collaborating with Israel," Hamas and British officials said.
"We are very concerned about the situation and we are attempting to provide consular assistance," a spokesman for the British consulate in Jerusalem said, adding the British authorities were in touch with Martin's family.
A statement on the Hamas interior ministry website said Martin was ordered held for two weeks for "violating Palestinian law and security in the Gaza Strip," but did not elaborate.
"A representative of the British consulate in Gaza has visited the journalist arrested on Sunday and has spoken to him," it said.
Another Hamas official said the Briton was detained attending a court session in support of a Palestinian friend accused of "collaborating with Israel," a serious charge often punishable by death in the Palestinian territories.
The defendant "testified against the British journalist and indicated that he had broken the law and security of Gaza," the statement said.
Martin's defence will be handled by an attorney with the Palestinian Centre for Human Rights, the head of the organisation, Said Raji Surani, told AFP.
"An attorney from the centre visited the British journalist" on Monday, Surani said. "He complained about the conditions of his cell... but has not been subjected to any insults or torture."
The Foreign Press Association, which groups journalists in Israel and the Palestinian territories, said it was "deeply concerned" over the arrest and called on Hamas to immediately free the reporter.
"We expect the Hamas, as we do all parties, to respect the rights of every journalist on assignment, to work without fear of being arrested," it said in a statement.
The press association said Martin had been a freelancer in the region for about five years ago and that he was also a filmmaker.
The arrest marked the first time a foreigner had been detained by the Islamists since they violently seized power in the coastal enclave sandwiched between Israel and Egypt in June 2007, according to Palestinian rights groups.
Israel's Government Press Office, which accredits foreign journalists wishing to work in Israel and the Palestinian territories, said it had issued a press card for a Cainer Paul Martin, who also has US and South African passports.
Hamas, which swept the last Palestinian parliamentary elections held in January 2006, is blacklisted by Israel and the West as a "terrorist organisation."
Israel and Egypt imposed a blockade on the territory of 1.5 million people after the Hamas takeover, allowing in only essential humanitarian goods.
