BAGHDAD, June 11 (UPI) -- An Iraqi judge ordered three of five U.S. contractors held in Baghdad released, citing insufficient evidence against them, a court official said.
Abdul Sattar al-Beeraqdar, a spokesman for Iraq's Higher Judicial Council, said the two other contractors will remain detained on charges involving "illegal substances" found on the men when they were taken into custody, CNN reported Thursday.
The contractors initially were told they were being held in the death last month of another contractor, James Kitterman, a source close to the five told CNN. Kitterman, 60, of Houston, was found bound, blindfolded and fatally stabbed in a car in Baghdad's Green Zone May 22.
The five contractors were taken into custody June 3 in a pre-dawn raid by Iraqi and U.S. personnel. Four of the contractors are employees of Corporate Training Unlimited, a security firm based in Fayetteville, N.C.
On Monday, the men were told they were being held on suspicion of having unregistered weapons, a judiciary spokesman said.
Under Iraqi law, once a person is detained, an investigative judge questions the accused and assesses evidence, CNN said. The judge then decides whether sufficient evidence was assembled, either referring the case to trial or dismissing it.
