Amir Hekmati has filed a complaint against the Iranian government, seeking damages for more than four years of imprisonment.

Hopes for his release were dashed on Saturday -- at least for now.

Orwell's Thought Police are functioning today in Iran. I know this because my cousin, Shahriar Cyrus, a husband, father of a young son and accomplished painter, was arrested last week in Iran in a similar fashion. Eleven representatives of Iran's Ministry of Intelligence came for him. His crime -- like that of hundreds of others -- was his belief.

As a director Jon Stewart's persona is a far cry from that of the television host. Instead of treating Bahari's story as a comic strip or subject of satire (in the way Argo partially did in its tale of a notorious escape from Iran), Stewart tackles his subject with deadly seriousness.