Teen 'bunks' media conference

2006-01-04 10:36

Fort Lauderdale - An American teen who cut class to make a solo trip to Iraq for a journalism project failed to appear at a media conference he had called at his mother's waterfront home, saying he didn't want to face reporters.

"I am very thankful to be home and safe and I am looking forward to going back to school and moving on. Thank you to everyone who was concerned about my safety," Farris Hassan, 16, said in a statement read by his sister, Shehnaz Hassan. The teen didn't answer calls made to his cellphone.

Hassan returned on Tuesday to his exclusive private school, where officials debated how to punish him. Pine Crest officials said he won't be expelled but the junior could lose his honour roll status, face community service or have points deducted from his grade point average.

Still, Lourdes Cowgill, president of the prep academy of about 700 students, seemed bemused by the boy's three-week odyssey which the teen had written was inspired by a sense of guilt about the difficulties confronting Iraqis while he led a comfortable life.

"This is probably the most egregiously interesting escapade that students have had at Pine Crest. I hope it doesn't get any better than this," Cowgill said. "What goes through the mind of a 16-year-old... Who knows?"

Teen didn't tell family

Hassan skipped school when he began his travels on December 11. He was able to secure an entry visa for Iraq because his parents were born there, although they have lived in the US for more than three decades. He didn't tell his family what he was doing until he arrived in Kuwait, where he planned to take a taxi into Baghdad for the December 15 parliamentary elections.

With the Iraqi border closed for the voting, Hassan stayed with family friends in Lebanon until he could fly into Baghdad on December 25.

He contacted The Associated Press bureau in Baghdad on December 27 and related his story. Hassan said he had recently studied immersion journalism - in which a writer 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 said last week.

He left Iraq on Friday and returned home on Sunday. His parents have also promised punishment.

A message left on Tuesday on his father's cellphone was not returned.

- AP