DES MOINES — An Iowa man threatened by city officials with legal action for saying on a website that his hometown smelled like ‘‘rancid dog food’’ won a free-speech lawsuit Thursday when a federal judge prohibited the city from further threats and awarded him damages.

Josh Harms, represented by the American Civil Liberties Union of Iowa, filed suit in US District Court asking a judge to block Sibley officials from suing him.

City officials said they’d sue if he didn’t stop criticizing the town’s odor problem from Iowa Drying and Processing, which makes an animal food supplement from pig blood.

The company moved to a vacant building in Sibley in 2013 and Harms began publishing his protest website in 2015. The city said Harms was hurting the community and threatened a lawsuit.

associated press