Cyrus Kar and Farshid Faraji released after being held for 54 days

The US army yesterday freed Cyrus Kar, an American documentary filmmaker of Iranian origin, and Farshid Faraji, his Iranian cameraman, after holding them for 54 days in a US base in Iraq. Kar entered Iraq from Iran to film material for a documentary about Darius the Great, the founder of the Persian empire. He and Faraji were arrested on 17 May near Balad (70 km north of Baghdad) by the Iraqi army, which handed them over to the coalition forces. The US army then asked the FBI to investigate them. The FBI finally concluded on 4 July that it had nothing on them. ---------------------------------------------------------------- 28.06.05 Iraq TV producer killed and a documentary maker and a cameramen arrested Reporters Without Borders has called for information about the arrest of a documentary-maker and of his cameraman, of whom there has been no news since early May, and the murder of a local TV producer shot dead at the wheel of his car on 28 June. Cyrus Kar, a US national of Iranian origin and his Iranian cameraman Farshid Faraji, were both arrested in Iraq on 2 May 2005 while making a documentary entitled, "In search of Darius the Great". Ahmed Wael Al Bacri, producer on local al-Charkiya television died at the wheel of his car while he was returning to his home in Baghdad. "We ask for light to be shed on the circumstances of the arrest of documentary-maker Cyrus Kar and his cameraman Farshid Faraji. The US and Iraqi authorities should quickly investigate to find out the reasons for their detention," the organisation said, adding, "We are particularly worried Faraji about whom we have had no news since his arrest on 2 May. "We have found out that Kar was seen in a US Army vehicle. It is not the first time that US forces have arbitrarily detained journalists in Iraq. The extremely sensitive context in the country does not justify this detention and it is important the US forces continue to respect the work of journalists." "We demand the full truth about this case and the murder of Ahmed Wael Al Bacr. We ask the competent authorities to take all necessary steps to investigate the circumstances of his death. Iraqi journalists are frequently the target of attacks and pay a high price for reporting the news," the organisation added. After filming the first part of their documentary in Iran, Afghanistan, Tajikistan and Turkey, Kar and Faraji went to Iraq after receiving permission to film there from both the American and Iraqi governments. Iraqi police arrested them shortly after they arrived in Baghdad. After finding that Kar was a US national they handed him over to the US Army. He has since been held in a detention centre, Camp Cropper, close to Baghdad airport. The FBI searched his home and made him take a lie-detector test. Despite this he is still being held by the US Army, who have given out no information about him. Nothing has been heard of Faraji since he was arrested. His name does not appear on the lists of prisoners drawn up by the Red Cross in Iraq.