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| Iraq-Jordan | ||
| U.S. Releases Filmmaker Detained in Iraq | ||
| 2005-07-11 | ||
| An aspiring Iranian-American filmmaker who has been detained by the U.S. military for nearly two months without being charged was released Sunday, officials said. Cyrus Kar, 44, of Los Angeles, was taken into custody May 17 near Balad when potential bomb parts were found in a taxi in which he was riding. His family had filed a lawsuit accusing the federal government of violating his civil rights and holding him after the FBI cleared him of suspicion. "Kar was detained as an imperative security threat to Iraq," the military said Sunday in a statement. "After his initial questioning, the military notified the FBI, who initiated an investigation to determine if Kar had engaged in terrorist activities." The U.S. military then convened a review board hearing on July 4 to determine whether Kar was an "enemy combatant." "Based on the FBI investigation, the testimony of Kar and the witness he called, and other witness statements, the board determined Kar was not an enemy combatant and recommended his release, which was approved," the statement said.
Tehran, July 11, IRNA-Iranian Film-maker Farshid Faraji, who has recently been released from US prison in Iraq, is expected to arrive in Iran within the next 48 hours, his mother said here Monday. Iranian-born film-maker, Cyrus Kar, and his cameraman Farshid Faraji were detained on May 17 near Baghdad by US troops and were released 53 days later, the Society of Iranian Youth Cinema reported. According to the report, Faraji informed his family over phone on July 9 that he and his colleague Kar had been released and that they were staying in a hotel in Baghdad. Faraji and Kar had traveled to Iraq to work on a documentary film titled 'In Search of Cyrus the Great' in archaeological sites in Iraq.
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| Posted by:Fred |