U.S.

Ahmed Mohamed And His Family Are Leaving America

Ahmed Mohamed and his family are leaving the U.S. so he can enroll in a prestigious program in Qatar. It could be due to increased media scrutiny.

Ahmed Mohamed And His Family Are Leaving America
Getty Images / Chip Somodevilla
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Just one day after meeting the president, teen clock-builder Ahmed Mohamed and his family announced they are leaving America in favor of Qatar.

Tuesday, his family released a statement saying, "We would like to announce that we have accepted a kind offer from Qatar Foundation for Education, Science and Community Development (QF) for Ahmed to join the prestigious QF Young Innovators Program." (Video via PBS NewsHour)

Ahmed was thrust into the national spotlight after he was arrested when his teacher mistook his homemade clock for a bomb.

He seemed excited in his Instagram post about meeting the president, but those close to him said the media scrutiny has been tough for the teen to handle, especially the conspiracy theories.

"But now we're learning the techie teenager may not be as innocent as he seems," a Fox News anchor said.

"His intent was to see how far he could get with the device and to see what kind of alarm he could get," Heath Wester said in an interview with KDFW.

His sister told The Washington Post, "It’s been really hard. Everything happens for a reason, but there’s so much stuff being said that isn’t true."

A family friend told The Washington Post the Mohamed family decided to move within the last day and will relocate sometime next week.

This video includes images from Getty Images.