Baghdad ( CNN ) -- Three security contractors , two of them American veterans and one from Fiji , have been freed in Iraq almost three weeks after they were detained by the Iraqi Army , U.S. Rep. Peter King said Wednesday . The men , who were working for a security firm , were arrested by Iraqi Army forces in Mahmudiyah on December 9 but were not charged with any offense , said King , a New York Republican . `` I am pleased that these three men have been released after having been detained , '' King said . `` With the unfortunate and clearly deteriorating security situation in Iraq and with al Qaeda in Iraq still very active , these men were in increasing danger with each passing day . '' King said he got involved after being contacted by the wife of one of the men , Army veteran Alex Antiohos of Long Island , New York . The other two contractors are Jonas March of Savannah , Georgia , and Kevin Fisher of Fiji , he said . The congressman asked the U.S. State Department for help and wrote to Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki to appeal for their release , he said in a statement . King said the three men were detained because the Iraqi military `` did not like the 'mission request authorization ' paperwork that had been issued by the Iraqi Ministry of Interior . '' The United States is still negotiating with the Iraqi government about whether U.S. contractors will be granted any diplomatic protections under Iraqi law . The final U.S. troops withdrew from Iraq 10 days ago , after a war that lasted almost nine years . CNN 's Adam Levine contributed to this report .
NEW : Rep. Peter King got involved after the wife of one of the men appealed for help . The three contractors were detained in central Iraq on December 9 . Two of them are U.S. citizens and military veterans , the third is from Fiji .