Family Awaits Teen Who Journeyed to Iraq
Posted on: Saturday, 31 December 2005, 21:00 CST
By KELLI KENNEDY
FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. - The family of a 16-year-old who took off to Iraq as a journalism project without telling his parents talked to him by phone on Saturday and said he seemed unaware of the international stir he had caused.
Farris Hassan, a prep school junior, said he was in Kuwait City and was scheduled for a return flight on Monday, said his sister, Shehnaz Hassan. Back in Florida, his anxious parents were hoping he could secure an earlier flight.
"He said he was OK. He asked me what was going on," Shehnaz Hassan told The Associated Press. "He saw my mom and brother on TV. He had no idea there was so much commotion going on."
The State Department has warned Americans not to visit Iraq. Forty U.S. citizens have been kidnapped since the war started in March 2003, and 10 of them have been killed, U.S. officials say. About 15 are missing.
Farris cut school and left the United States on Dec. 11, traveling to Kuwait, where he thought he could take a taxi into Baghdad to witness the Dec. 15 parliamentary elections. The border was closed for the elections, so he went to stay with family friends in Lebanon, before flying to Baghdad on Christmas.
He contacted The Associated Press' Baghdad bureau on Tuesday and related his globe-trotting odyssey.
A strong history student, Hassan had recently studied immersion journalism - a writer who lives the life of his subject - and wanted to understand better what Iraqis are living through.
"I thought I'd go the extra mile for that, or rather, a few thousand miles," he told the AP.
Farris was able to secure an entry visa for Iraq because both of his parents were born there, though they've been in the United States for more than three decades. He took his U.S. passport along with $1,800 in cash. He didn't tell his family until he arrived in Kuwait - he sent them an e-mail.
His father, Dr. Redha Hassan, said Saturday that he had been trying to get his son home since discovering he was in Kuwait. He declined to discuss the specifics of Farris' travel plans because of safety concerns.
"The kid put his life on the line while other kids were having fun during Christmas and New Year," he said.
When Farris returns home, his parents' possible punishment may not be the only discipline he has to face. Officials at Pine Crest School, the academy he attends in Fort Lauderdale, have asked for a meeting with his parents before he is allowed to return to class.
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Associated Press writers Jason Straziuso in Baghdad and Denise Kalette, Damian Grass and Adrian Sainz in Florida contributed to this report.
Source: Associated Press/AP Online
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