American historical filmmaker, Cyrus Kar, got into the wrong taxi outside his hotel in Bagdad and ended up being imprisoned by the US Military for over 50 days. It took a civil lawsuit filed by his family and the ACLU to get the attention of the Department of Defence to let him go.

According to DOD officials, Kar, a veteran of the US Navy and Navy reserves, got into a cab that was later searched by Iraqi security forces and found to contain dozens of washing-machine timers of a type sometimes used by Iraqi insurgents to make improvised explosive devices.

Their only real information about his case, family members said, came from a relatively low-level F.B.I. agent who, after searching Kar’s Los Angeles apartment and investigating his background, told them the circumstances of his arrest. The agent also had told the family Kar had been cleared, but he is still being detained.

“I’m thrilled that Cyrus and Farshid will be released soon, but the question is why it didn’t happen 50 days ago,” said the lead lawyer for Mr. Kar, Mark D. Rosenbaum of the American Civil Liberties Union of Southern California. “It shouldn’t take a lawsuit to free an innocent man whose only crime was to get in the wrong cab.”

Pentagon officials stated Kar was never mistreated and was kept in the same prison as Saddam Hussein. This was little consolation for the fact he was detained illegally from the beginning.

According to the embassy consular official, although he still has not been released, Mr. Kar still does want to go home until he was able to complete his filming.