HELSINKI (AP) — Iraqi-born cleric Najmaddin Faraj Ahmad, better known as Mullah Krekar, has been acquitted of threatening a Kurdish immigrant in Norway and was released from prison.

Krekar's lawyer says the 59-year-old was freed, according to a decision Thursday by the Borgarting Court of Appeal.

Brynjar Meling declined to reveal the whereabouts of his client but told Norwegian broadcaster NRK that his release came immediately after the jury's decision. The court gave no reason for its decision, Meling said.

Krekar, who has earlier been convicted of threatening Norwegian Prime Minister Erna Solberg and making other death threats, came to Norway as a Kurdish refugee in 1991. He was sentenced in October to 18 months for threats and praising the slaying of cartoonists at the French satirical newspaper, Charlie Hebdo.