Justin Mashouf, a senior at the University of Arizona, traveled to Iran this winter to film footage showing the positive side of Iran. He had no trouble with officialdom in Iran, but he hit a brick wall on returning home to the United States.

Mashouf, 22, said he went to Iran to get footage for a film he hoped would portray Iran in a positive light, humanizing Iranians to the outside world, forcing viewers to think critically, and fighting the negativity in the world.

On his return, however, Mashouf was stopped in the airport by homeland security officers.

“On January 13, I was exiting Air France 0388 from Paris to Atlanta at 3:45 p.m. Upon exiting the aircraft, into the jet way I noticed that there were two Department of Homeland Security officers in uniform checking passports. One of the officers was Officer James Thompson. After looking at my passport, Officer Thompson looked over to the other officer and told me to follow them into an elevator. The other officer inquired as to what the contents of my metal carry-on was,” Mashouf wrote.

Mashouf, whose father is from Tehran and mother from Philadelphia, told the officers he was a film student and that his carry-on contained a camera and media equipment. Mashouf said the officers then began to search his belongings, separating his things into three piles: clothing and personal items; papers and notebooks; and electronic and media equipment.

The university student said that while they were searching his bags, the officers asked him what religion he was, to which he answered, “I’m Muslim.”

Mashouf said the officer then asked him, “Did you go to any religious schools when you were there?” Masouf said he sarcastically replied, “Of course.”

Mashouf said he was detained in a general holding area, while the officials copied his documents. When the officials came back, they began to ask him questions like, “You didn’t visit any training camps while you were there? Are you working with the Iranian government in any capacity? Did you meet anyone in high levels of the Iranian government?” Mashouf answered in the negative on all those questions.

Mashouf said one of the officers asked him about a trip he had taken to a military base in Tehran. The university senior said military bases have gyms and that he had gone there to exercise.

According to Mashouf, the officer then said, “You should be glad that you have me as your detaining officer. Most of these guys would really hate you. You would not be going home.”

The officer told Mashouf other officers may have believed Mashouf was actually getting paramilitary training at the base.

Mashouf said the officer then asked him about every name and corresponding age and location associated with the documents. When the officer asked Mashouf if he would ever consider working for the Department of Homeland Security, Mashouf said, “Never.”

Officer Thompson then disappeared with Mashouf’s footage. When he returned, Mashouf said the officer told him, “I’ve got some bad news for you. I know I told you that we were going to review the footage here, but my supervisor is not having it. I’m sorry. He really thinks there is more to this.”

Thompson took the tapes and put them in a bag. “This is a seizure bag. Most things that are put in these are destroyed but I’m writing here that these are being held for review.

Mashouf said at 10:30 p.m., almost seven hours after he had first been detained, he was released.

The American-born Mashouf told Arizona University’s Daly Wildcat, “Being without your hours of work that you went somewhere to make, after all this money and all this time was spent working on it, to come back and have nothing is the most worthless, hopeless feeling.”

Mashouf called Susan Farrell, an attorney with the Student Association at the University of Arizona. Farrell helped Mashouf successfully get back his videotapes.

Speaking about his film, Mashouf said, “At a time when lives are being lost on a massive scale and unspeakable damage is being done to the world, it is disheartening to see a generation of media makers relatively unmoved by the actions of their governments. At the same time, millions of dollars are spent for propaganda manufacturing consent for war. Very few voices have been raised against this destructive machine and I act to contribute my voice to the resistance.”

In his film, “Warning Factions,” Mashouf addresses issues surrounding how he balances both American and Iranian culture in the post-9/11 world. “I think right now we’re a little lethargic when it comes to finding the truth. People tend to take what the main stream media gives them just for what it is, but the main stream media does not have the truth as one of its high standards,” he told Baylor University’s Lariat.

“It wasn’t really until I visited Iran that I began to actually feel like I was Iranian. As an American growing up in the United States there is an idea that is built into kids that this is their homeland. Going to Iran was like visiting the thousands of years of heritage that makes Iran so beautiful and historically important to the rest of the world,” Mashouf said.