British scientist compares ‘Clock boy’ with ISIS executioners, suffers Twitter backlash

British scientist Richard Dawkins has suffered a Twitter backlash after comparing “clock boy” Ahmed Mohamed with a young ISIS assassin.

Texas boy Ahmed was detained and questioned after he had brought a clock to school in September. The homemade clock was mistaken for a bomb.

The family, while claiming the boy was publicly humiliated, recently demanded US$10 million (approx. AU$13.9 million) from the city of Irving and US$5 million (approx. AU$6.95 million) from the Irving Independent School District.

It all started when Dawkins called Ahmed a “hoax boy” instead of a “clock boy.”

“Don't call him "clock boy" since he never made a clock. Hoax Boy, having hoaxed his way into the White House,” Dawkins tweeted as he referred to US President Barack Obama inviting the teenager to the White House after the clock incident.

According to the British scientist, the boy did nothing special in his “clock” project. He merely “took a clock out of its case and put it in a box,” he said. When he is reminded Ahmed is “just a kid,” he said kids would not sue people for US$15 million (more thanAU$20 million).

Dawkins tried to strengthen his reasons further by saying the boy’s age was not a factor. He shared a link of an article published on the International Business Times UK. The article is about a young ISIS executioner who beheads a victim on camera.

The comparison between the school kid and the ISIS executioner drew strong criticism from Twitter users. What the professor suggests by comparing the two is “far more sinister” (than merely comparing their age), Folarin S (@studioflow) tweets.

The 74-year-old scientist was further slammed by Renée Stephen (@ReneeStephen). She says, while Dawkins’ books opened her mind when she was a child, his “sloppy reactionary thinking” saddens her.

Dawkins defended his comparison and said he was “horrified” to know that anyone could think he likened the teenage boy to a killer. His only point of reference was their age.

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