American filmmaker freed
The week's news at a glance.
Baghdad
Cyrus Kar, a U.S. citizen and Navy veteran, was released this week after being held in solitary confinement in a U.S. military prison in Iraq for seven weeks. The Iranian-born Kar was in Iraq filming a documentary about a Persian emperor who ruled the area in the fifth century B.C. He was arrested when U.S. troops at a checkpoint found timers used in bombs in the trunk of a taxicab in which he was a passenger. He said he knew nothing about the timers. “I don’t hold anything against them for holding us,” said Kar, 44. “What I hold against them is they put us in a cell and forgot us.” The U.S. military said Kar’s release proved the system worked.
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