Filmmaker Sues U.S. Over Iraq Detention

L. A Times ^ | 8 JULY 2006 | Henry Weinstein,

[radar101]

A Los Angeles filmmaker who was imprisoned in Iraq for 55 days sued Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld and other high-ranking military officials Friday, alleging that his detention violated his civil rights, the law of nations and the Geneva Convention.

Mark D. Rosenbaum, legal director of the ACLU of Southern California, said the suit is the first civil action challenging the constitutionality of the U.S. government's detention and hearing policies in Iraq.

Cyrus Kar, 45, of Los Feliz was freed a year ago, just days after the American Civil Liberties Union sued seeking his release. The new lawsuit, filed in federal court in Los Angeles, seeks damages for Kar and broad changes in the government's detention policies.

Kar, a U.S. citizen and Navy veteran, went to Iraq 14 months ago to make a documentary film about Cyrus the Great, the Persian king who wrote the world's first human rights charter.

On May 17, 2005, the taxi he was riding in was stopped at a Baghdad checkpoint and authorities found components in the trunk that are commonly used in improvised explosive devices. The taxi driver told military authorities that Kar and his cameraman knew nothing about the items, which the driver said he was bringing to his brother-in-law

[Defiant]

Another case in point:

Ind. couple charged after detaining man (Citizen's arrest backfires)

In that just-posted story, some people were put in jail for briefly detaining a man without the legal right to do so. They face a $10,000 fine and 3 years in prison. America protects its citizens' liberty zealously. People like you don't care about "others", but you will care about it when and if it happens to you.

[Bombard]

You are quite a smart a++. It is clear all you seek is argument and not discussion. People like you give this site a bad reputation. Given that all you do is argue I will no longer waste time on answering you rants. Goodbye!!!

[Deb]

I didn't say "he had it coming". I'm saying (if he's so innocent), he doesn't deserve money for being so stupid as to go to the most dangerous place on earth to shoot his little film. And he certainly doesn't deserve the right to demand a change is US policy, in a time of war, for that stupidity.

Being such a huge supporter of this country and being so innocent...he should send a check to Rumsfeld and Casey and everyone else he's suing, for his accommodations and protection for two months.

The movie excuse is absurd. There's a million feet of available stock footage he could use to tell his little story.

Call me all the names you want. That's what dupes do.

[retMD]

I have a question for you, since you are adament he shouldn't have Iraq because it's a war zone. I believe this occurred a year ago - if my memory isn't faulty, things weren't so violent at that point, and many freepers were extolling all the peaceful areas and need for business, investment, etc. I suspect if you'd heard about this guy going over to do a movie in March of 2005, you'd have been praising him to the skies.

Or am I wrong - were you more aware of the dangers a year ago than many of us? Did you feel that it was so dangerous that no one should go Iraq outside the military?