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niyad

(113,213 posts)
Tue Oct 20, 2015, 09:58 PM Oct 2015

Texas teen arrested for homemade clock to move to Qatar


Texas teen arrested for homemade clock to move to Qatar

DALLAS (AP) — A 14-year-old Muslim boy who was arrested after a homemade clock he brought to school was mistaken for a possible bomb will be moving with his family to the Middle East so he can attend school there, his family said Tuesday.



John M. Grunsfeld, left, NASA's Associate Administrator for the Science Mission Directorate, takes a photo with Ahmed Mohamed, right, the Texas teenager arrested after a homemade clock he brought to school was mistaken for a bomb during the second-ever White House Astronomy Night on the South Lawn of the White House in Washington, Monday, Oct. 19, 2015.
October 20, 2015

Ahmed Mohamed's family released a statement saying they had accepted a foundation's offer to pay for his high school and college in Doha, Qatar. He recently visited the country as part of a whirlwind month that included a Monday stop at the White House and an appearance Tuesday at the U.S. Capitol.

"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 before boarding an airplane from Washington back home to Texas on Tuesday.

The statement said the family has been "overwhelmed by the many offers of support" since Ahmed's arrest on Sept. 14 at his school in Irving, a Dallas suburb. The family said it accepted an offer from the Qatar Foundation for Education, Science and Community Development to join its Young Innovators Program.

. . . . .


But in recent weeks, the teenager has been traveling the world. Ahmed earlier this week told The Associated Press that he had visited Google and Facebook, along with other companies and institutions. He also visited with the president of Sudan, Omar al-Bashir, which has prompted some criticism because al-Bashir is wanted by International Criminal Court on charges of genocide and war crimes for atrocities linked to the Darfur fighting. Ahmed's father is a Sudanese immigrant to the U.S. and a former presidential candidate in Sudan who ran opposing al-Bashir.

. . . . .

http://www.mail.com/news/politics/3901578-texas-teen-arrested-homemade-clock-to-move-to-qatar.html#.23140-stage-hero1-3
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cleanhippie

(19,705 posts)
3. I'm sure his mother and sisters will just LOVE Qatar, too. They really respect women there.
Tue Oct 20, 2015, 10:17 PM
Oct 2015

Thats sarcasm.

niyad

(113,213 posts)
5. women's rights in qatar (the official line, anyway)
Tue Oct 20, 2015, 10:21 PM
Oct 2015

. . .

Women's rights

Women in Qatar vote and may run for public office. Qatar enfranchised women at the same time as men in connection with the 1999 elections for a Central Municipal Council.[29][30][31] These elections—the first ever in Qatar—were deliberately held on 8 March 1999, International Women’s Day.[29] It was the first GCC country to enfranchise its population.[32]

Qatar sent women athletes to the 2012 Summer Olympics that began on 27 July in London.[33]
Gender equality

Qatari women have made significant legal and social advancements since the 1990s. Sheikha Mozah has been a vocal advocate for women's issues, supporting women's conferences, higher education opportunities and the creation of a cabinet-level position in the government dedicated to women's concerns. Qatar appointed its first female cabinet minister in 2003, when Sheikha Ahmed al-Mahmoud was named as Minister of Education.[34]

As a result of these advancements, Qatari women have many career opportunities, including leadership positions, in education, banking, charitable projects, health and human services, tourism, law, civil service and even diplomacy.[35] In 1999, Mouza Al Malki became the first female candidate in the GCC to contest a municipal election.[36] Sheikha Yousuf Hasan Al Jufairi became the first female to hold a municipal position when she won the Central Municipal Council (CMC) elections for the Airport constituency in 2003.[37] Two women were simultaneously elected to the CMC for the first time in 2015.[38]

36%–42% of Qatari women are in the workforce and experts say women are moving forward with more rights.[3
. . . .

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Women_in_Qatar

cleanhippie

(19,705 posts)
6. Having spent time there, it's not all that.
Tue Oct 20, 2015, 10:24 PM
Oct 2015

Sure, Qatar is more progressive than many of its neighbors, but that's not saying all that much.

razorman

(1,644 posts)
13. It would be funny if the truth weren't so sad.
Fri Oct 23, 2015, 08:45 PM
Oct 2015

But, then, India pretends that the caste system no longer exists, too. The whole world is fucked up.

niyad

(113,213 posts)
15. and people in this country pretend that women are equal, that there is no racism, no class
Sat Oct 24, 2015, 12:14 PM
Oct 2015

inequality, and that we are peaceful.

Dorian Gray

(13,488 posts)
10. I'm disappointed
Wed Oct 21, 2015, 06:48 AM
Oct 2015

This kid was dealt an unfair blow. As a result he met the President, went to the UN, had opportunities to meet people at NASA and other spots, and then decides to move to Qatar. (His family made the decision, obviously.)

We chased a young and curious mind from our country.

I think he would have had some amazing opportunities here (in the US), as well, if they had given it a chance. But they still would have had to relocate.

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