The Iraqi Civil Aviation Authority said Saturday that the security forces freed a senior official at the Iraqi airport after being arrested for investigation into the incident that a Lebanese passenger plane was stopped from landing in Baghdad after a son of the Iraqi transport minister had missed the flight.

"The security forces released Samir Kubba, the deputy director of Baghdad International Airport late Friday, more than 24 hours of his arrest," Jasim al-Kanani, head of media office of the civil aviation authority, told reporters.

"The release of Kubba came after the completion of an investigation on the incident to prevent landing in the airport," Kanani said, adding that Kubba will resume his work as normal.

On Thursday, Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki ordered to expel and hold accountable anyone found responsible for not allowing the plane coming from Beirut to land at Baghdad International Airport, Maliki's media adviser Ali al-Moussawi said.

On Friday, Maliki telephoned Lebanese Minister of Public Works and Transportation Ghazi Zaiter, expressing the resentment of the Iraqi authorities about the act done by the administration of Baghdad airport toward the Lebanese plane, according local media reports.

At Thursday noon, the Lebanese Middle East Airlines said the Iraqi Civil Aviation Authority prevented its plane from landing at the airport in Baghdad and forced it to return to Beirut. Two passengers, including Mahdi al-Amiri, son of Iraqi Transport Minister Hadi al-Amiri, had missed the flight at Beirut airport.

After the plane returned to Beirut, the Middle East Airlines cancelled its flight to Baghdad, saying it was negotiating with Iraqi authorities about the incident, which the company said had caused financial losses and disruption of its flight schedule.

In the beginning of the incident, local media quoted a spokesman for the Iraqi Transport Ministry as saying that the Middle East Airlines plane was turned back due to cleaning operations at the airport in Baghdad.