Texas schoolboy Ahmed Mohamed, his family and his famous clock are off to Qatar – maybe for good.
One month after the 14-year-old shot to international fame when he was handcuffed and arrested because his science project – a homemade digital clock – was mistaken for a bomb, he is leaving the US.
Ahmed has been offered a scholarship to take him through high school and university by the Qatar Foundation, a public-private education partnership in the Middle Eastern state.
His father issued a statement citing a “kind offer” from the Qatar Foundation for Ahmed to join its young innovators programme, as well as an offer to pay for schooling for his sister.
The family announced the move on Tuesday, just one day after Mohamed met Barack Obama at the White House and discussed the youngster’s ambition to work on Nasa projects for humans to reach Mars.
“We are going to move to a place where my kids can study and learn, and all of them being accepted by that country,” Ahmed’s father, Mohamed Elhassan Mohamed, told the Dallas Morning News by phone as the family was boarding a plane in Washington to take them back to Texas.
Ahmed has been on a rollercoaster journey since the incident in September, expressing thrill at how much support he had received but also frustration and dismay at the prejudice he routinely encounters as a Sudanese-born Muslim living in the US.
“There are a lot of stereotypes for people who are foreigners and have Muslim names. This would not have happened to any of my classmates,” Ahmed told al-Jazeera English after his arrest.
In September, Mohamed took his project into his high school in Irving, Texas, on the outskirts of Dallas. It was a digital clock display attached to a power mechanism that the boy had rigged up in a small metal case.
After he showed it to several teachers at MacArthur high school, and despite being a model student, the school called the police and Mohamed was arrested.
He was later pictured at the police station looking bewildered in handcuffs, while wearing a Nasa T-shirt, in images that went viral.
Obama was moved to post on Twitter: “Cool clock, Ahmed. Want to bring it to the White House?”, with a further message encouraging children to like science.
Criminal charges against him were dropped, but Mohamed was nevertheless suspended from school for three days and his clock was confiscated.
The school and local authorities have not yet apologised to the boy, who said his treatment made him feel “different, like I don’t belong there”.
In the weeks following his arrest he met Google co-founder Sergey Brin at a science fair in California and then was photographed with his arm around the Sudanese president, Omar al-Bashir, a dictator wanted for war crimes in Darfur.
After Mohamed posted on Twitter that visiting his native Sudan, from where he moved to the US when very young, was like “coming home” he received a barrage of criticism online from commentators questioning his loyalty to the US.
Republican presidential candidate and fellow Texan Ted Cruz criticised Obama for inviting Mohamed to the White House, arguing that he had shown more respect to the boy than he does to police officers.
Mohamed and his family returned from their visit to Sudan, Qatar and a pilgrimage to Mecca last week, flying in to Washington in time for the annual astronomy night event at the White House for aspiring scientists.
The following day, Mohamed appeared at a press conference on Capitol Hill with congressman Mike Honda.
“On behalf of, at least, folks who understand, we are going to apologise to you and stand next to you and be your ally,” Honda told Mohamed.
But now the family has announced it will move to Qatar as early as next week. The family has returned to Texas to plan its departure from the US – and pick up Ahmed’s clock.
One month after the 14-year-old shot to international fame when he was handcuffed and arrested because his science project – a homemade digital clock – was mistaken for a bomb, he is leaving the US.
Ahmed has been offered a scholarship to take him through high school and university by the Qatar Foundation, a public-private education partnership in the Middle Eastern state.
His father issued a statement citing a “kind offer” from the Qatar Foundation for Ahmed to join its young innovators programme, as well as an offer to pay for schooling for his sister.
The family announced the move on Tuesday, just one day after Mohamed met Barack Obama at the White House and discussed the youngster’s ambition to work on Nasa projects for humans to reach Mars.
“We are going to move to a place where my kids can study and learn, and all of them being accepted by that country,” Ahmed’s father, Mohamed Elhassan Mohamed, told the Dallas Morning News by phone as the family was boarding a plane in Washington to take them back to Texas.
Ahmed has been on a rollercoaster journey since the incident in September, expressing thrill at how much support he had received but also frustration and dismay at the prejudice he routinely encounters as a Sudanese-born Muslim living in the US.
“There are a lot of stereotypes for people who are foreigners and have Muslim names. This would not have happened to any of my classmates,” Ahmed told al-Jazeera English after his arrest.
In September, Mohamed took his project into his high school in Irving, Texas, on the outskirts of Dallas. It was a digital clock display attached to a power mechanism that the boy had rigged up in a small metal case.
After he showed it to several teachers at MacArthur high school, and despite being a model student, the school called the police and Mohamed was arrested.
He was later pictured at the police station looking bewildered in handcuffs, while wearing a Nasa T-shirt, in images that went viral.
Obama was moved to post on Twitter: “Cool clock, Ahmed. Want to bring it to the White House?”, with a further message encouraging children to like science.
Criminal charges against him were dropped, but Mohamed was nevertheless suspended from school for three days and his clock was confiscated.
The school and local authorities have not yet apologised to the boy, who said his treatment made him feel “different, like I don’t belong there”.
In the weeks following his arrest he met Google co-founder Sergey Brin at a science fair in California and then was photographed with his arm around the Sudanese president, Omar al-Bashir, a dictator wanted for war crimes in Darfur.
After Mohamed posted on Twitter that visiting his native Sudan, from where he moved to the US when very young, was like “coming home” he received a barrage of criticism online from commentators questioning his loyalty to the US.
Republican presidential candidate and fellow Texan Ted Cruz criticised Obama for inviting Mohamed to the White House, arguing that he had shown more respect to the boy than he does to police officers.
Mohamed and his family returned from their visit to Sudan, Qatar and a pilgrimage to Mecca last week, flying in to Washington in time for the annual astronomy night event at the White House for aspiring scientists.
The following day, Mohamed appeared at a press conference on Capitol Hill with congressman Mike Honda.
“On behalf of, at least, folks who understand, we are going to apologise to you and stand next to you and be your ally,” Honda told Mohamed.
But now the family has announced it will move to Qatar as early as next week. The family has returned to Texas to plan its departure from the US – and pick up Ahmed’s clock.
No comments:
Post a Comment