Updated

A judge has dealt a severe blow to a torture lawsuit filed against military contractor CACI by four Iraqis who say they suffered abuse at the notorious Abu Ghraib prison.

At a hearing Friday in federal court in Alexandria, Judge Gerald Bruce Lee tossed out claims that CACI conspired to torture the four men who filed the lawsuit. Some other claims can still go forward but will be difficult to prove.

Lee also dismissed parent company CACI International Inc. from the suit. That leaves only a subsidiary, CACI Premier Technology, as a defendant.

In the lawsuit, the former prisoners claimed CACI conspired in a pattern of abuse, including mock executions, beatings, and other humiliating treatment.

Arlington-based CACI says its employees never even came in contact with the plaintiffs.