Most of you must have come across American clock-bomb-boy Ahmed’s story somewhere. But, a brief flashback about the series of events from Ahmed Mohamed story is necessary to understand the way forward.
In September last year, Ahmed Mohamed made it in the headlines all around the world. This 14-year-old boy from Irving’s MacArthur High School was questioned by school authorities and local law enforcement agencies because of his clock that looked like a bomb.
The boy had first shown his weirdly assembled clock to his engineering teacher, and the concerned person asked him to not to show it to other teachers as someone might become nervous because of the way it looks. Clock beeped during English class, and Ahmed gladly showed it to his teacher. The instructor confiscated it, showed it to the school principal, and called the police.
Cops questioned the young boy for around an hour and thirty minutes according to reports. They kept him at city’s juvenile detention facility, took fingerprints, photographs, and allowed him to go home only after verifying certain details.
Alright, he was handcuffed for few minutes, but the world did not end there!
Was this overreaction, or did the teacher perform his duty as a citizen by reporting something that he was suspicious about?
Experts on homemade clocks suggest that Ahmed bought a normal bedside alarm clock, took it out of its case, and screwed it into his suitcase. So, to make things clear, he did not INVENT anything.
Look at the clock’s photo, does that appear like a normal clock? According to experts, clock in the suitcase does look weird, perhaps, like a bomb! The young boy screwed it in the suitcase and secured it with cable.
Just imagine, you are a teacher, and your student brings something that looks like a bomb inside your class, won’t you feel suspicious?
Almost all the American schools have zero tolerance for suspicious items since 9/11 attacks. Besides that, the United States witnesses several shooting incidents involving armed kids. Plus, according to reports, Islamic State is also training kids online to act as suicide bombers. American cities are often put on high-alert because of bomb threats.
A lot of young teenagers from around the world have gone to join ISIS, including some boys from the state of Mississippi. Islamic terror outfit-Boko Haram- is already using children as suicide bombers in Nigeria. So, perhaps, Ahmed’s teacher, high-school principal, and cops were not wrong when they detained and asked questions about the clock to Ahmed. The district’s policy allows them to do so. Even non-Muslim students have been arrested on similar charges before in the US.
One of the largest Muslims groups in the US, Islamic Association of North Texas also supported the school and police authorities. The Muslim welfare organization said in their statement that the teacher reacted in the right manner after considering all the incidents that took place in the US during recent months.
(Thank God, BarkhaDutt, RajdeepSerdesai, Mitali Saran, ShabanaAzmi, and gang did not blamePM Modior BJP for Irving police’s act)
Three months of fame followed
As director Sajid Khan pointed out in one of his Wednesday columns- “People start believing in what they watch and read, even if it’s nonsense.” This is what helped Ahmed as well.
From September 16th news reports about this incident started emerging on all the American news sites and TV channels. Ahmed was tagged as a victim of Islamophobia, racial profiling, and he became an overnight star. Hashtag-#IStandWithAhmed reached number one position on social networking sites.Muslim journalists working in the British media houses used this incident to make usual claims suggesting that the US is irredeemably racist, morally corrupt, and followers of Islam are under siege in the country.
Leftist, liberal, and Muslims from all over the world started looking at this kid as their war hero. He along with his father and elder sister started appearing in the morning, afternoon, and night shows on TV channels.
This prompted President Obama and founders of tech companies to invite Ahmed at some of their high-profile events. We better not discuss the list of goodies, gifts that he received. Free stuff worth thousands of dollars was also couriered to him by Microsoft.
Press conferences and interaction with journalists exposed their intentions?
“I have lived in the US for more than thirty years, and I or my kids were never treated this way,” said Ahmed’s father Mohamed during one of his interactions with reporters.
He lied, because, Ahmed’s sister-Eyman Mohamed-had agreed in one interview that she was also suspended from school for three days when she had threatened to blow up the school.
Several journalists also pointed out that Ahmed’s sisters scripted all his answers for questions during press briefings. Even social activist Mark Cuban pointed out the same observation while on ‘Real Time with Bill Maher show.’
Some journalists decided to run a background check on young boy’s father. Surprisingly, they found that his dad is Islamic activist, and had run for an election to be the president of Sudan, twice! He had also attracted attention in September 2011 when he participated in Quran discussion event organized by anti-Islamic pastor Terry Jones. In spite of these reports, mainstream media still continued to present him as their war hero.
Decided to move to Qatar
Qatar’s major educational institution offered a scholarship to Ahmed. His family even declared their intention to move to Qatar.
But the young boy and his family decided to play their victim card again. He once again made it in the headlines by demanding $15million as compensation from the city of Irving and its school.
During November last year, his family demanded an apology and $15million from concerned authorities just because he was questioned about his weird clock. Boy’s lawyers threatened to file a civil action against Irving School District and the City of Irving. He also demanded written apology letter from the police chief and local mayor. This attracted a lot of eyeballs, because initially, this so-called victim of Islamophobia had said he is not interested in money and won’t request anyone to apologize.
People who supported him earlier started abusing him after realizing his ‘real’ intention. He has not received any compensation or apology letter as of now, while writing this report.
Currently, Ahmed is in Qatar with his family. He had posted his image with Mozabint Nasser, (a member of Qatar’s royal family) in November 2015 on Twitter. Then, another one clicked at a Doha-based restaurant during last month.
He was questioned because he created a hoax bomb
As mentioned earlier, he did not invent any clock. What he did was just like pouring cereals into a bowl and then saying that he invented cereals!
Police claimed that they arrested the kid for making a hoax bomb. Anyone making jokes about bombing airport would also face same charges and treatment.
So, let’s be clear, Ahmed was arrested because his suitcase clock triggered bomb hoax, and not because he is Muslim. But it appears his sister and father made him a stooge. He suddenly disappeared from the news after November 24th possibly because he faced a lot of criticism. This stunt did help him make it in headlines, but his plan to make millions defamed him, and may keep on haunting him throughout his life.