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Ahmed Mohamed, 14, was accused of making a hoax bomb, police in
Irving said. The Council on American-Islamic Relations said he is
Muslim and the case serves as an example of the climate of hate and
manufactured fear around the religion.
The bespectacled Mohamed is a ninth grader who was led away in
handcuffs and a NASA T-shirt from MacArthur High School on Monday
for a project he put together to impress his new high school
classmates and teachers.
On Wednesday, he became an Internet sensation.
"Cool clock, Ahmed. Want to bring it to the White House? We should
inspire more kids like you to like science. It's what makes America
great," a message on Obama's Twitter feed said.
The White House invited Mohamed to participate in its astronomy
night next month with NASA astronauts and other young people,
spokesman Josh Earnest told reporters.
"In this instance, it's clear that at least some of Ahmed's teachers
failed him. That's too bad," he said.
Mohamed told a news conference in front of his house that he was
going to Washington for the White House Astronomy Night.
Facebook Chief Executive Mark Zuckerberg also invited the teenager
to drop by his California-based company.
"Having the skill and ambition to build something cool should lead
to applause, not arrest," he wrote on his Facebook page.
The incident has launched a social media campaign called
#IStandWithAhmed, which was the No. 1 trending topic in the United
States on Twitter for most of Wednesday with nearly 1 million
tweets, many critical of the school district and police.
"I built the clock to impress my teacher but when I showed it to
her, she thought it was a threat to her. It was really sad that she
took the wrong impression of it and I got arrested for it later that
day," he said.
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The teenager who dabbles in robotics said he was encouraged by the
social media support, loved to invent things and will be looking to
transfer to a different high school.
The Irving Independent School District stood behind the teacher.
"Out of an abundance of caution, we had to take action," spokeswoman
Lesley Weaver said.
Mohamed was handcuffed and taken to a detention center where he was
fingerprinted and had mug shots taken. He was freed when his parents
came for him.
Police said the device, which had a digital display and circuit
board, was in a case and could be mistaken for a bomb.
Police spokesman James McLellan said Mohamed's religion had nothing
to do with their response.
Two school police officers initially questioned the student and he
told them he had built a clock.
"He didn't explain properly what it was and they felt compelled to
arrest him," McLellan said.
No charges were filed and police said they considered the case
closed.
(Reporting by Jon Herskovitz; Additional reporting by Lisa Maria
Garza in Dallas, Lisa Lambert and Roberta Rampton in Washington;
Editing by Bill Trott and Eric Walsh)
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