Muslim teen arrested in the US after a teacher mistakes clock for a bomb

Fourteen-year-old Ahmed Mohamed was detained from his suburban Dallas high school because of his homemade alarm clock. Reportedly, the boy had brought the alarm clock to show it to his engineering teacher. However, the school officials accused the boy of creating a “fake bomb.”

The incident took place on Sept 14 with the boy handcuffed by the police. However, by Sept 16, the teen had received an invitation from the White House, and support from big personalities, including Mark Zuckerberg and Hillary Clinton. In addition, the arrest of the boy has sparked a debate over social media questioning whether he was arrested because of his religion or name.

Soon, Mohamed, who studies at the MacArthur High School in Irving, Tex., was surrounded by discussion around ethnicity, Islam and immigration, while all he longed for was NASA T-shirts, technology and an admission into Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

While even a slight interaction with the juvenile justice system is expected to bring a huge change in the lives of the juvenile, experts believe that the support being offered to the boy from around the globe can actually benefit him by softening up the issue.

“Social support and community support – those can offset risk,” said Shawn Marsh, chief program officer for juvenile law at the National Council of Juvenile and Family Court Judges.

“Children in the juvenile justice system, experience a massive amount of risk. With the right protective factors they can get support and develop robustness.”

Upon arrest, Mohamed was interrogated and his stuff was searched through. Soon, he saw himself handcuffed, walking from the school to the juvenile detention center. The police officials took his mug shot and fingerprints before his parents finally arrived at the center. Since then, the hashtag #IStandWithAhmed has been trending on Twitter.

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