Iraq's Sadr Wants Alleged Hizbullah Member Freed

Powerful Shiite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr on Wednesday called for the release of an alleged Hizbullah member who is jailed in Iraq.

"He must be released immediately, and the government should do this immediately," Sadr said in a statement, referring to Ali Moussa Daqdouq, who was accused of plotting the murder of five U.S. soldiers in 2007.

He was handed over to Iraqi authorities in December as U.S. forces completed their withdrawal nearly nine years after the invasion of Iraq, but his lawyer said in May that an Iraqi court ordered him released for lack of evidence.

At the time of Daqdouq's detention in 2007, the United States accused Iranian special forces of using Hizbullah to train Iraqi militants, and U.S. officials are still keen to have him remain behind bars.