Lawsuit seeks release of U.S. resident imprisoned in Iraq

[UpInArms]

http://www.freep.com/news/statewire/sw120605_20050831.htm

LOS ANGELES (AP) -- A lawsuit was filed Wednesday against top U.S. administration officials to gain the release of a legal U.S. resident who is being held captive by American forces in Iraq even though a military court cleared him of involvement in an attack on a base, the American Civil Liberties Union said.

The effort to free Numan Adnan Al Kaby, an Iraqi who formerly lived in Michigan, has been spearheaded by Los Angeles-based filmmaker Cyrus Kar, who was imprisoned for nearly two months in Iraq this year. The men met in prison.

"Even after Numan was declared innocent by a military court, he still sits in prison," Mark D. Rosenbaum, ACLU of Southern California legal director, said in a statement. "The government is turning justice on its head by keeping an innocent man in jail."

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Al Kaby had won political asylum but decided to return to Iraq in 2004 to see his parents, brothers and sisters, who remained there.

"He thought since Saddam was gone, it would finally be safe for him to go," Al Saedy said.

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