From 2006 to 2012, documentarian Laura Poitras has been detained at the border more than four dozen times, often for hours. Despite never being charged with a crime, the Oscar-winning “Citizenfour” director has been given the government’s highest threat rating, has had her equipment confiscated, and, on one occasion, was denied the right to take notes during an interrogation because her pen could be used as a weapon.
Describing her treatment by officials “Kafkaesque harassment,” Poitras is now suing the government after agencies were unresponsive to a Freedom of Information Act request soliciting documents related to her targeting and interrogations.
“I’m filing this lawsuit because the government uses the US border to bypass the rule of law,” the filmmaker said in a statement, adding that she hopes to bring attention to others less prominent than she is who may suffer the same kind of governmental harassment.
Poitras began being targeted by officials after her 2006 documentary “My Country, My Country,” about the Iraq War. She is also the director of “Flag Wars” and “The Oath.”
[via The Intercept]
