Cyrus Kar
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Cyrus Kar (born March 18, 1961 in Tehran, Iran) is an Iranian-born American film director, part-time professor at the University of Phoenix, and now-vindicated alleged terrorist who was captured by United States forces in Iraq on May 17, 2005.[1] On July 10, 2005, he was released from custody after his family sued, accusing the U.S. government of violating his civil rights and detaining him after his clearance by the FBI. He was alleged to have been smuggling washing machine timers for use in improvised explosive devices in a taxi he was riding in to Baghdad.
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[edit] Early life
Although born in Iran, his family moved to America when he was three where he was brought up in the American culture. (His family did not permanently move to the US until he was 11. He also lived briefly in Germany.) He attended high school in Utah and Washington and subsequently entered the Navy, attaining the rank of Third Class Petty Officer.[2]
After leaving the Navy, he attained degrees from San Jose State University and Pepperdine University. He also he worked in Silicon Valley before embarking on a film career.
[edit] Controversy
Kar began working on a filmed documentary about his namesake Cyrus the Great and visited England, Iran, Turkey, Afghanistan, and Tajikistan for shooting before obtaining permission from the US government to visit Iraq. He arrived in the country on May 17 and was almost immediately arrested by Iraqi security forces before being handed over to US forces. He then spent some time at Camp Cropper, though it is unclear is that he spent his entire confinement there. According to the ACLU, he had been permitted three phone calls and a visit from the Red Cross.
On July 6, the American Civil Liberties Union filed a petition for habeas corpus on Kar's behalf. On July 10, he was released from military custody.[3]
On an August 24, 2005 segment on the Nightline television show Kar described painful and humiliating abuse from US personnel, while in custody in Iraq.[4]
[edit] Lawsuit
On July 7, 2006 Kar sued Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld and other military officials, calling the government's detention policies unconstitutional.[5][6] He also claimed that he was hooded, threatend, taunted and insulted by US soldiers. The lawsuit said his detention violated his Civil rights, Geneva conventions as well as International law. "Human rights monitors note that the vast majority of the over 15,000 detainees in U.S. military custody in Iraq have never been charged, tried, provided counsel, or allowed to challenge their detention in court, and over one-fifth of them have been detained for over a year in this manner," the suit states. "Saddam Hussein has had more due process than Cyrus Kar - this is a detention policy that was drafted by Kafka" said Mark Rosenbaum of American Civil Liberties Union.[2]
[edit] References
- ^ From Filmmaker in Los Angeles to Iraq Detainee, New York Times, July 6, 2005
- ^ a b The strange case of Cyrus Kar, BBC, July 7, 2005
- ^ ACLU Habeas corpus petition
- ^ Filmmaker Cyrus Kar Describes Ordeal of Iraq Detention, Venus Project, August 25, 2005
- ^ Filmmaker Sues Rumsfeld Over Iraq Detention , Los Angeles Times, July 7, 2006
- ^ American filmmaker sues Rumsfeld over detention in Iraq: Cyrus Kar says he was hooded, threatened by U.S. soldiers, CNN, July 8, 2006
