It is really easy to sucker the knee-jerk left – a group so broad that it includes President Obama, Mark Zuckerberg of Facebook, Sergey Brin of Google, and Bill Nye the purported “Science Guy.”  Ahmed Mohamed (or maybe his dad) just proved that by pulling off the Great Clock Caper in Texas, and now they are taking the money and running – to Qatar.

Taking apart a 1980s-era digital clock and putting it into a pencil case so that it bore some resemblance to a bomb, and then bringing it to school for a science fair, was guaranteed to trigger a Zero Tolerance reaction.  School administrators have been known to throw children out of school for chewing Pop Tarts into the shape of a gun, after all.  Ahmed got exactly the reaction he expected, and with his evasive answers, he even got arrested.  Propaganda gold!  The claim that he was being persecuted because of his dark skin and Muslim name was perfect for the progressive media narrative.  Never mind all those other non-Muslim victims of idiotic Zero Tolerance school officials.

As you no doubt know, in addition to meeting with tech luminaries, Ahmed got to the White House and met with President Obama.  And less than 24 hours later, he and his family announced they were moving to Qatar, which outbid others anxious to shower boons upon the boy and his family:

“After careful consideration of all the generous offers received, 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, which reflects the organization’s on-going dedication to empowering young people and fostering a culture of innovation and creativity,” the family said in a news release Tuesday.

America is such an intolerant and repressive place that it is quite understandable why Ahmed and his family would flee to Qatar.  In Qatar, whose Constitution’s first clause is “Qatar is an independent sovereign Arab State. Its religion is Islam and the Shari'a Law shall be the principal source of its legislation,” there is no religious freedom for infidels.  And as foreign nationals, they might want to keep in mind this, from Soros-funded Human Rights Watch:

The kafala (sponsorship) system ties a migrant worker’s legal residence to his or her employer, or sponsor. Migrant workers commonly complain that employers fail to pay their wages on time if at all, but are barred from changing jobs without their sponsoring employer’s consent other than in exceptional cases and with express permission of the Interior Ministry. Adding to their vulnerability, they must obtain an exit visa from their sponsor in order to leave Qatar. Migrant workers are prohibited from unionizing or engaging in strikes, although they make up 99 percent of the private sector workforce.

Many migrant workers live in cramped, unsanitary conditions, especially those working without documentation.

Workers can become undocumented when employers report them as having absconded, or when they fail to pay to renew workers’ annual ID cards. A lack of proper documentation leaves workers at risk of arrest and detention or deportation. It also leaves them at risk of further labor exploitation. Authorities rarely, if ever, bring criminal prosecutions against employers for violating Qatar’s labor or anti-trafficking laws.

Of course, the Mohamed family are not unskilled laborers, so they may expect to fare better.  And at least for now, they enjoy the government’s favor.  However, HRW warns:

A number of foreign professionals working as expatriates in Qatar complained they were unable to leave the country because their employers failed or refused to issue them exit visas.

Law No. 4 of 2009, which regulates the sponsorship, employment, and residence of expatriate workers, requires they obtain residence permits, and exit permits when they wish to leave the country. Under the kafala system, these permits are provided by “residence sponsors,” who can effectively prevent those they sponsor from leaving Qatar.

The law does not require residence sponsors to justify their failure to provide an exit permit, instead placing the onus on the sponsored expatriate to find another Qatari national willing to act as an exit sponsor. Alternatively, the expatriate must publish a notice in two daily newspapers and then provide a certificate 15 days later showing that he or she faces no outstanding legal claims. The exit visa requirement cannot be justified as a means of preventing foreigners fleeing court cases in Qatar, as the Interior Ministry has separate powers to impose travel bans on non-citizens facing criminal charges or civil claims in Qatar’s courts.

There are also concerns over the arbitrary manner in which Qatar imposes indefinite travel bans against individuals accused of criminal or civil offences by their employers.

The exit visa requirement and the authorities’ use of arbitrary travel bans means that Qatari employers can prevent their foreign employees from leaving Qatar indefinitely, a power they may use unfairly to secure concessions from foreign employees with whom they are in dispute. Formerly highly-paid expatriates trapped in Qatar in 2013 included the French professional footballer, Zahir Belounis, and three former employees of the Al Jazeera Children’s Channel.

Ahmed’s 18-year-old sister is enthusiastic about the move:

“Looking at all the great offers we’ve had, it’s the best decision,” said Eyman, 18. “They even have Texas A&M at Qatar … It’s basically like America.”

She might want to consider HRW’s warning:

Provisions of Law No. 22 of 2006, Qatar’s first codified law to address issues of family and personal status law, discriminate against women. Article 36 states that two men must witness marital contracts, which are concluded by male matrimonial guardians. Article 57 prevents husbands from hurting their wives physically or morally, but article 58 states that it is a wife’s responsibility to look after the household and to obey her husband. Marital rape is not a crime.

Or perhaps the U.S. State Department:

Qatar is a destination country for men and women subjected to forced labor and, to a much lesser extent, forced prostitution. Men and women from Nepal, India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, the Philippines, Indonesia, Vietnam, Sri Lanka, Ethiopia, Sudan [emphasis added], Thailand, Egypt, Syria, Jordan, and China voluntarily migrate to Qatar as low-skilled laborers and domestic servants, but some subsequently face conditions indicative of involuntary servitude. These conditions include: threats of serious physical or financial harm; the withholding of pay; charging workers for benefits for which the employer is responsible; restrictions on freedom of movement, including the confiscation of passports and travel documents and the withholding of exit permits; arbitrary detention; threats of legal action and deportation; threats of filing false charges against the worker; and physical, mental, and sexual abuse.

So Barack Obama, Sergey Brin, Mark Zuckerberg, and all you other lefties, be aware that Clock Boy is not interested in freedom or tolerance or equality.  He is throwing his lot in with a repressive sharia-based regime.  You’ve been had.