Qatar diplomat involved in airline bomb scare is released
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The Qatar diplomat who was involved in an airplane bomb scare has been released and is expected to return to Washington, a spokeswoman for his embassy said Thursday morning.
The diplomat has not been charged, said Alison Bradley of the New York public relations firm, Brown Lloyd James, in a telephone interview. The firm represents the Qatar Embassy in Washington.
In a statement, Qatar’s ambassador to the U.S. said the diplomat was traveling from Washington to Denver on business and that he didn’t do anything threatening.
‘We respect the need for special security measures for air-related travel ... but the diplomat was traveling to Denver on official duty related to the embassy,’ Ali bin Fahad al-Hajri, Qatar’s ambassador to Washington, said in a statement posted on the embassy’s website.
‘He certainly wasn’t involved in any activities involving a threat.
‘This was a mistake and we request that all parties concerned refrain from making any assumptions or judgments,’ the statement said.
Law enforcement officials said suspicions arose when the man apparently tried to sneak a smoke in the airplane bathroom. They say he was asked about the smoky smell and joked about trying to light his shoes — leading air marshals to restrain him.
--Michael Muskal
