I've got to get this off my chest! I am truly blown away.
On Sunday a friend of ours received a call that his 16 year old nephew had been arrested here in Doha and was being held at the local police office. He was arrested at his home in the evening for reportedly kissing a girl earlier that day outside his home (which is in a private compound/gated community). The guard at the entrance of the neighborhood is the one that called the police to report the illegal act. I'm not sure if it was a contributing factor or not for the call being made but the girl he was kissing is Muslim. If it wasn't a factor in the beginning I can guarantee it will be before this nightmare is over.
The girl was arrested as well and at last report was denying the 'charges' and was still being held at the local station. The boy explained to his mother (his father is out of country) that it was mutual and she had been asking him to kiss her. There was reportedly nothing extreme or vulgar going on; it was nothing more than two 16 year old kids kissing in the front yard, I'm assuming, not trying to hide or be sneaky in anyway.
I believed it was assumed the kids would be let out the following morning once the charges had been officially filed but by Sunday night, without explanation, the boy had been transfered to the Central Prison!! Being his family is not Arabic they have not been able to personally talk to any 'authorities' involved so another friend of ours has been making calls on their behalf trying to help the family get some information. The mother has not been able to see her son because women are only allowed to visit one day a week for 3 hours (or something crazy like that). The only reason they found out he had been moved is that he is apparently in a cell with a fairly well todo local who, for some reason, has been allowed to keep his cell phone, and he let the boy call his mother with it.
They have retained a local lawyer and are trying to sort things out. Evidently the charges were written in the worst way and it reads is equivalent to the way it would had be written if they had been caught having sex in public. From what I understan the lawyer isn't a huge help at the moment besides confirming that the charges are bad and he could possibly spend 6months in prison.
HE'S 16 YEARS OLD AND KISSED A GIRL!!!!
Are you seeing the problem with this!?!?! He is incarcerated for kissing, not molesting, not raping, not killing.... simply having a consensual kiss with another 16 year old girl!
Absolutely unbelievable. This little boy is all alone in a Middle East prison with no way of knowing what is happening to him. His mother can't visit because she is a wretched woman, his father is out of country (and as of last night was currently unaware of the situation but was to be brought up to speed by this morning) and his Uncle (our friend) cannot go visit him because he is not part of the immediate family.
It is feared that things could further escalate since the girl is Muslim and as bad as this is for him, culturally it is the worst kind of no-no and if pushed she could easily say that he forced himself on her hence wiping away any tarnish and shame this incident would bring to her family...
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Just received an update and our friend is up at the prison this morning trying to get into see the boy with the lawyer and the translator. There is a glimmer of hope that he will be released on bail in the next day or two.
Here is a picture of the prison I borrowed off another site (something you should take a look at if you have the chance. It's about a guy from Houston serving a life sentence in Doha):
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