This item is available on the Militant Islam Monitor website, at http://www.militantislammonitor.org/article/id/751

Five Iraqi born Muslims with American citizenship being held in Iraq on charges of aiding Al Zarqawi terrorists - Update

Five arrested for 'engaging in suspicious activities'
July 7, 2005

MIM: The family of one of the 5 American citizens arrested in Iraq on terrorism charges has gotten the ACLU( which specialises in aiding and abetting terrorists ) to proclaim that an Iraqi born American passport holder who was found in a taxi with washing machine timers in the trunk is simply a victim of anti Muslim . Even more outrageous is that he claims that the "washing machine timers belonged to the taxi driver who was bringing them to a friend".

Which begs the question as to what was the real reason Kar went to a war zone to make a film about the Persian King Cyrus the Great . Even more outrageous is that when he was found in a taxi with bomb making components his family told the media that the 44 year old was an "innocent boy" who can't possibly be suspect since he is a military veteran!

"...On May 17, officials and family say, he was traveling with an Iranian filmmaker after leaving a Baghdad hotel when their taxi was stopped at a checkpoint.

Iraqi security forces allegedly seized several dozen washing machine timers in the taxi - components frequently used in terrorist bombs.

"I think most people would agree that's somewhat suspicious," said Pentagon spokesman Lt. Col. John Skinner... "

MIM: What could possibly be suspicious about going to a war zone in Afghanistan and Iraq to make a film about Cyrus the Great ? Even less suspicious is being found in a taxi together with an Iraqi filmmaker and a taxi driver who has 5 washing machine timers to be used in bombs. Lucky that one has the ACLU and an aunt who can tell the media that her 44 year old army verteran nephew "is an innocent boy". How convienent that one has an American passport and can cry about their constitutional rights being violated to get out from under terrorism charges...Wonder many millions Kar will be demanding when he files a lawsuit against the military with the help of ACLU lawyers ?

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http://www.mercurynews.com/mld/mercurynews/news/local/states/california/northern_california/12100827.htm

Iranian-American filmmaker freed in Iraq


FRANK GRIFFITHS

Associated Press

BAGHDAD, Iraq - An Iranian-American aspiring 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 when it continued to hold him after the FBI cleared him of suspicion.

Kar's Iranian cameraman also was released from U.S. custody Sunday, but the military said it would continue to hold the taxi driver pending the results of an investigation.

"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.

The U.S. military defended its detention of Kar.

"This case highlights the effectiveness of our detainee review process," spokesman Air Force Brig. Gen. Don Alston was quoted as saying in the statement. "We followed well-established procedures and Mr. Kar has now been properly released."

Kar was born in Iran but immigrated to the United States as a child. He served in the Navy and worked in the computer industry before becoming interested in documentary filmmaking.

With help from independent producer Philippe Diaz, Kar began working on a documentary about the ancient Persian king Cyrus the Great. He interviewed experts and shot of footage at archaeological sites in Afghanistan and Iran, according to his family and Diaz.

On May 17, officials and relatives say, Kar was in a taxi that was stopped at a checkpoint near Balad where Iraqi security forces allegedly seized several dozen washing machine timers, which can be used in bombs.

Balad is about 50 miles north of Baghdad.

Kar's relatives say the FBI told them weeks ago that he had been cleared and that the taxi driver was transporting the parts to a friend.

He was one of five U.S. citizens the Pentagon has acknowledged were captured separate and being held on suspicion of insurgent activities in Iraq.

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http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2005-07/07/content_3186773.htm

BEIJING, July 7 -- The U.S. military in Iraq has detained five Americans for suspected insurgent activity. The five have not been charged or had access to a lawyer.
This is a undated family photo of filmmaker Cyrus Kar, an Iranian-born U.S. citizen and U.S. Navy veteran.(Photo source: yahoo.com)

Pentagon spokesman Bryan Whitman released the news on Wednesday but declined to identify any of them. They are in custody at one of the three U.S.-run prisons in Iraq.

One has been identified by his family and U.S. officials as Cyrus Kar, an Iranian-American filmmaker and U.S. Navy veteran.

He was arrested with several dozen washing machine timers in his car. These can be used as components in bombs.

Three of those being detained are Iraqi-Americans. Whitman said one of them was linked to an attack, the second possibly involved in a kidnapping, and the third was engaged in suspicious activity.

The fifth detainee is a Jordanian-American, suspected of high-level ties to Abu Musab Zarqawi, the Jordanian terrorist leading al-Qaeda ally in Iraq.

The spokesman added that there did not appear to be any connection among the five.

It's uncertain whether the five will be turned over to the US Justice Department or to Iraq's legal system, which has handled the prosecution of other foreign fighters.

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http://www.mercurynews.com/mld/mercurynews/news/breaking_news/12069728.htm

JEREMIAH MARQUEZ

Associated Press


LOS ANGELES - Cyrus Kar's family says his passion for a documentary he was making about an ancient Persian ruler brought him to Iraq in May. Potential bomb parts found inside the filmmaker's taxi have kept him there, locked in a U.S. military jail outside Baghdad.

Now relatives of the 44-year-old Iranian-American have sued the government to gain his freedom. They contend his detention tramples his constitutional rights, and that the FBI officials have cleared him of suspicion.

"I'm here to beg President Bush ... to release an innocent boy," Kar's aunt, Parvin Modarress, said at a news conference Wednesday to announce the filing of the lawsuit in Washington, D.C. "He went to Iraq to do his dream work, to make a documentary."

Born in Iran, Kar became as thoroughly immersed in American culture as any native-born citizen after immigrating here as a child, according to his family.

The Los Angeles resident served in the Navy several years. He studied marketing at San Jose State University, business at Pepperdine University, and worked in the computer industry during Silicon Valley's tech boom.

And several years ago Kar decided to try his hand at filmmaking.

With help from independent director-producer Philippe Diaz, he began working on a documentary about Cyrus the Great, a Persian king during the 500s B.C. and author of the first human rights charter.

He interviewed experts and scholars and shot up to 60 hours of footage at archaeological sites in Afghanistan, Iran and Tajikistan, according to his family and Diaz.

Diaz, chairman of the Los Angeles studio Cinema Libre, said Kar had spent close to $90,000 in savings and loans so far to shoot the film. The studio had paid about $10,000 and planned to put up another $100,000 or more in post-production.

Diaz thought Kar's detention was a mistake. A staunch supporter of the Iraq war, Kar was far more right of center than many left leaning colleagues and relatives. An American flag hangs above his bed.

"It was always a joke because Cyrus is much more conservative," Diaz said. "He always believe in everything which is American."

Among Kar's final tasks was shooting in and around the ancient city of Babylon, one of Cyrus the Great's conquests.

On May 17, officials and family say, he was traveling with an Iranian filmmaker after leaving a Baghdad hotel when their taxi was stopped at a checkpoint.

Iraqi security forces allegedly seized several dozen washing machine timers in the taxi - components frequently used in terrorist bombs.

"I think most people would agree that's somewhat suspicious," said Pentagon spokesman Lt. Col. John Skinner. "All of the facts need to be thoroughly questioned. ... These are life and death situations, and when it comes to issues of security you need to be extremely cautious."

Kar's relatives say that FBI agents searched his home and that Agent John D. Wilson in Los Angeles told them weeks ago that Kar's story had checked out.

The agent allegedly told family that Kar passed a polygraph test, had been cleared of any charges, and that the washing machine timers belonged to the taxi driver, who was transporting them to a friend.

FBI spokeswoman Cathy Viray declined to comment.

Kar is among five Americans detained for suspected insurgent activity by the U.S. military in Iraq, according to his family and government officials. Others include three Iraqi-Americans and a Jordanian-American.

Incarcerated at Camp Cropper, near Baghdad International Airport, Kar spoke several times with his family during monitored 10-minute conversations.

He sounded tired in the first call in May, irate in the second. He was frustrated that the military could hold him, saying "they had all the power," according to his family.

When his aunt asked why he was detained, Kar said "It's because of the taxi driver," when an eavesdropping American official told him not to discuss the case.

"I'm hurt by our government," said Kar's cousin Shahrzad Folger. "I'm hurt that they would do this to one of their own citizens, to one of their veterans

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washingtonpost.com 5 Americans Held By U.S. Forces In Iraq Fighting
Citizens Suspected of Ties to Opposition

By Josh White
Washington Post Staff Writer
Thursday, July 7, 2005; A15

Five detainees who are believed to be American citizens are being held in U.S. military detention facilities in Iraq after their arrests there over the past few months, the first Americans taken into custody during the war in Iraq on suspicion of aiding the insurgency or for terrorist activity, Pentagon officials said yesterday.

In addition to one detainee with dual U.S.-Jordanian citizenship who was arrested in late October, coalition forces have snared four suspects since April in unrelated cases involving potential insurgent activities throughout Iraq, said Bryan Whitman, a Pentagon spokesman. Three of those arrested are Iraqi Americans and one is an Iranian American who said he was in Iraq to film footage for a historical documentary.

All of those arrested held dual citizenship, but defense officials would not identify the detainees by name or divulge where they lived in the United States. It was also unclear yesterday how involved the detainees were in the fight against the coalition.

Whitman said one of the Iraqi Americans was arrested for "engaging in suspicious activities," another for alleged involvement in a kidnapping, and the third for "having the knowledge of planning associated with attacks on coalition forces."

The Jordanian American, arrested after a search of his Baghdad home in late October, is believed to be a high-ranking associate of Abu Musab Zarqawi's terrorist network. Officials described him as an emissary with intimate knowledge of and participation in terrorist activities in Iraq.

But in the case of the Iranian American -- 44-year-old Cyrus Kar of Los Angeles -- lawyers who are working to return him to his home in the United States argue that he was arrested by mistake as he was traveling through Iraq in a taxi while working on a film documentary about Cyrus the Great, the ancient Persian king. Kar, a native Iranian who served three years in the U.S. Navy, was arrested by Iraqi security forces almost immediately after he entered Iraq from Iran on May 17, when soldiers found several washing machine timers in the taxi's trunk.

Those timers can be used on improvised bombs, military officials said, and are a trademark of insurgents who have launched attacks on coalition forces throughout the country. The soldiers took Kar, his Iranian cameraman and the taxi driver into custody, and Kar eventually landed at Camp Cropper, the highest-level U.S. detention facility in Iraq.

Kar's story, which is detailed in a legal petition filed in federal court in the District yesterday, was first reported by the New York Times and the Los Angeles Times yesterday. In the court papers, Kar's family members allege that he has been held without reason for nearly two months and that the FBI has cleared him of wrongdoing after searching his home and files and after he apparently passed a polygraph test. But he remains behind bars in Iraq, without significant contact with the outside world, and with no charges filed against him.

"We don't understand why they won't let him come home, especially since the government said he hasn't done anything wrong," Shahrzad Folger, Kar's first cousin, said in a statement released yesterday.

Cathy Viray, a spokeswoman for the FBI field office in Los Angeles, said she was prohibited from providing any details about the Kar case. A U.S. law enforcement official in Washington confirmed that Kar's home was searched by the FBI, as alleged in the lawsuit, but declined to provide further details.

American Civil Liberties Union lawyers filed the petition yesterday, alleging that Kar is being held by the U.S. military "without the slightest hint of legal authority."

Lt. Col. John Skinner, a Pentagon spokesman who specializes in detention operations, said yesterday that all of the U.S. citizen detainees have been treated in accordance with the Geneva Conventions and have been treated humanely. All five of the detainees are at one of three main detention facilities -- Camp Cropper near Baghdad International Airport; at the Abu Ghraib prison west of Baghdad; or at Camp Bucca, near the southeastern port city of Umm Qasr.

Skinner said nationality is nearly irrelevant when people are taken into custody on suspicion of wrongdoing.

Pentagon officials said there are approximately 420 foreign nationals in U.S. detention facilities in Iraq, many of whom are Syrian, Saudi Arabian and Iranian, among many others. The American nationals make up a tiny fraction of the 10,000 detainees in custody, and an even smaller percentage of the more than 70,000 detainees who have been held in Iraq and Afghanistan since the wars began.

"If you're engaged in suspicious activities or acts, or with suspicious individuals, you're going to be scrutinized heavily, and nationality doesn't play a role in that," Skinner said.

But the American citizens' detention in U.S. military facilities raises distinct legal issues because the U.S. Supreme Court has ruled that even enemy combatants who are U.S. citizens deserve certain rights -- such as a legal status hearing and access to a lawyer -- rights the detainees have not yet been able to exercise. Whitman said such detainees fall into a "special category" but are not entitled to military commissions or legal representation, because they are being held as "imperative security" internees and have not been charged with a crime.

Whitman said there are several options for dealing with the five specific cases, and discussions are underway with Iraqi government and U.S. government officials. Ultimately, the cases could be transferred to either government. Whitman added that the detainees will have their detention and legal status reviewed by a three-member panel.

Staff writer Dan Eggen and researcher Julie Tate contributed to this report.

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http://www.guardian.co.uk/uslatest/story/0,1282,-5122770,00.html

.S. Holding 5 Americans for Iraq Activity


Wednesday July 6, 2005 9:31 PM

By JOHN J. LUMPKIN

Associated Press Writer

WASHINGTON (AP) - The U.S. military in Iraq has detained five Americans for suspected insurgent activity, Pentagon officials said Wednesday. The five have not been charged or had access to a lawyer, and face an uncertain legal future.

Pentagon spokesman Bryan Whitman declined to identify any of them, citing the military's policy of not providing the names of detainees. They are in custody at one of the three U.S.-run prisons in Iraq.

One was identified by his family and U.S. law enforcement officials as Cyrus Kar, an Iranian-American filmmaker and U.S. Navy veteran.

Saying Kar is being held unjustly, the American Civil Liberties Union sued the government on Wednesday in an effort to secure his release.

Three of those being detained are Iraqi-Americans, Whitman said. The fifth is a Jordanian-American the Pentagon previously had acknowledged holding.

One of the Iraqi-Americans allegedly had knowledge of planning for an attack and a second possibly was involved in a kidnapping, Whitman said. The third was "engaged in suspicious activity," Whitman said, declining to be more specific. They were captured, one each, in April, May and June.

Whitman said the Iranian-American was arrested with several dozen washing machine timers in his car; such items can be used as components in bombs. Military officials said he was arrested with a cameraman and a taxi driver.

Whitman said there did not appear to be any connections among the five.

If there are charges, it is not immediately clear whether U.S. courts or Iraq's judicial system would handle the cases.

The International Committee of the Red Cross has visited each of the detainees, Whitman said.

In Los Angeles, Kar's relatives said he was born in Iran and came to the U.S. as a child.

They said Kar, 44, was in Iraq to film scenes for a documentary on Persia's founder when Kar was arrested by Iraqi police at a checkpoint in Baghdad on May 17, a date confirmed by military officials.

"He just had the misfortune to get into the wrong cab," said Steven R. Shapiro, the ACLU's legal director. "Our position is that if the government has any evidence against him, bring him home and charge in a court and then proceed accordingly."

His family said that an FBI agent in Los Angeles told them Kar had been cleared of any charges and that the washing machine timers allegedly belonged to the taxi driver, who was transporting them to a friend.

"I'm here to beg President Bush ... to release an innocent boy," Kar's aunt, Parvin Modarress, said at a news conference announcing the suit challenging Kar's detention. "He went to Iraq to do his dream work, to make a documentary."

The FBI searched Kar's Los Angeles home in May, said a U.S. law enforcement official who spoke said on condition of anonymity because the investigation is continuing.

The ACLU's suit, filed in Washington, contends that Kar's detention violates his constitutional rights, federal law, international law and U.S. military regulations.

"He's just sat there in limbo. Whatever the government's authority, it certainly doesn't allow them to do that," Shapiro said. He pointed to rulings that allow prisoners held by the U.S. at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, to challenge their detention.

Whitman said the five Americans were being held in accordance with laws governing armed conflict.

The Jordanian-American, who was captured in a raid late last year, is suspected of high-level ties to Abu Musab Zarqawi, the Jordanian terrorist and leading al-Qaida ally in Iraq. Officials announced the capture in March of the Jordanian-American.

A panel of three U.S. officers rules on whether each prisoner is properly held; that has already taken place for the Jordanian-American. Whitman did not say whether the three Iraqi-Americans or the Iranian-American have been through this process.

Whitman said it is not certain whether they will be turned over to the Justice Department or to Iraq's legal system, which has handled the prosecution of other foreign fighters.

The closest parallel to their situation may be the two American citizens captured opposing U.S. forces in Afghanistan.

John Walker Lindh and Yaser Esam Hamdi, two Taliban foot soldiers, held U.S. citizenship when they were captured in late 2001.

Lindh, a California native now in his early 20s, pleaded guilty in civilian court to supplying services to the Taliban government and carrying explosives for them. He received a 20-year prison sentence in 2002. He has since sought to have it reduced.

Hamdi was born in Louisiana and grew up in Saudi Arabia. He was held by the U.S. for three years before being released to his family in Saudi Arabia in October 2004. He gave up his American citizenship as a condition of his release.

Whitman said their cases do not necessarily set a precedent for the handling of the five Americans captured in Iraq because Afghanistan had no functioning government at the time Lindh and Hamdi were captured.

This item is available on the Militant Islam Monitor website, at http://www.militantislammonitor.org/article/id/751