http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/7276726.stmIraq drops 'death squad' charges
A court in Iraq has dropped charges against two former senior officials in the health ministry who were accused of involvement with Shia death squads.
Prosecutors said the court had decided there was insufficient evidence to proceed with the trial.
The two men denied allegations that they had allowed death squads to use ambulances and hospitals to carry out kidnappings and killings.
The US embassy said there were allegations of witness intimidation.
The accused were the former deputy health minister, Hakim al-Zamili, and the ministry's former head of security, Brig-Gen Hamid al-Shammari.
Mr Zamili is a key member of the political group led by radical Shia cleric Moqtada Sadr.
Sectarian violence
The two men were arrested in February 2007, at the height of sectarian fighting between the majority Shia and Sunni Muslims, in which tens of thousands of people were killed.
The very fact that the charges were investigated and brought to trial reflects modest progress toward the rule of law. There remain serious allegations of witness intimidation and other irregularities
Philip Reeker
US Embassy
Several people had filed charges accusing the men of masterminding the kidnappings and killings of their family members.
It was alleged that they had formed a private Shia militia that would snatch Sunni patients from hospitals, and kill visiting family members.
However the prosecutor in Baghdad, Ghandanfar Mahmoud, said the case had been dropped because of a lack of evidence.
"The accounts given by the witnesses were undocumented and not solid enough because they were based on hearsay and street talk. They were not strong enough to convict them."
The case was seen as a test of the Shia-led Iraqi government's willingness to prosecute senior officials accused of sectarian violence.
A spokesman for the US Embassy in Baghdad, Philip Reeker, said the US reserved judgement on the court's decision.
"The very fact that the charges were investigated and brought to trial reflects modest progress toward the rule of law.
"However, there remain serious allegations of witness intimidation and other irregularities in this case," he added.
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