Family of Muslim teen arrested for homemade clock files suit
ASSOCIATED PRESS
Ahmed Mohamed showed the clock he built in a school pencil box to reporters after a news conference in Dallas today. The family of Ahmed Mohamed, who was arrested after bringing the homemade clock to school, and charged with having a hoax bomb, filed a federal lawsuit today against Texas school officials and others, saying they violated the 14-year-old boy’s civil rights.
DALLAS » The family of a Muslim boy who was arrested after bringing a homemade clock to school filed a federal lawsuit today against Texas school officials and others, saying the incident violated the 14-year-old boy’s civil rights, prompted death threats and forced them to leave the United States.
The lawsuit was filed on behalf of Ahmed Mohamed, who was arrested at his suburban Dallas high school in September and charged with having a hoax bomb. He says he brought the homemade digital clock to school to show his English teacher.
Ahmed showed off the clock, made out of a plastic pencil box and electrical wire and other hardware salvaged from his parents’ garage, today during a news conference with his parents and attorneys.
Irving police later dropped the charge, but he was still suspended for three days. He never returned to the school; his family opted to have him take classes elsewhere.
The lawsuit names Irving Independent School District, the city of Irving and the school’s principal, and asks a jury to determine the damages. In November, the family asked the district and city to pay $15 million or else face a suit. District spokeswoman Lesley Weaver said in a statement today that attorneys for the district will review the suit and determine a course of action.
“Irving ISD continues to deny violating the student’s rights and will respond to claims in accordance with court rules,” she said, adding that school officials for now will have no further comment.
The Mohamed family questioned whether the boy was mistreated due to his religion but the district has denied the claim.
The family has since moved to Qatar, citing threats and a scholarship offered to Ahmed in the Persian Gulf country. Ahmed moved back to the U.S. last month for the summer to visit family and friends, and will do some traveling around the country, but will return to Qatar next month to start 10th grade at Qatar Academy, a private school in Doha.
“For the safety of my family, I have to go back to Qatar, because right now it’s not very safe for my family or for anyone who’s a minority,” Ahmed said during today’s news conference.
While in Texas, Ahmed said, he has to wear a hat, sunglasses and a hoody. “I can’t walk out of the house without being covered up because I might get shot because that happens here,” he said.
The teen’s parents, Mohamed Elhassan Mohamed and Muna Ibrahim, have not found work yet in Qatar, so the family of eight is living in government housing and on food vouchers.
Among the claims made in the suit, which was brought by the teen’s father, is that the boy’s right to equal protection under the law was violated and that officers arrested him without probable cause.
Ahmed was a victim of systemic discrimination by the school district and state Board of Education that has marginalized Muslims and other minority groups, the suit claims.
“History tells us that when we have stood tall and proud for equality and freedom, we have grown as a nation,” the suit says. “When we have given in to fear and hate, we flounder.”
The suit adds, “In the case of Ahmed Mohamed, we have the opportunity to take a stand for equality and for justice, two things that should prevail above all else.”
The Irving school district is also under investigation by the U.S. Department of Justice over an alleged pattern of discrimination against minority students.
The district in February sued the Texas Attorney General to keep the justice department’s investigation private.
Ahmed’s story brought an outpouring of support from President Barack Obama, other political leaders, corporate executives and NASA scientists.
“When I went to the new school, they asked me, ‘are you that clock kid?’ I told them yeah, I was. My identity was stripped,” Ahmed said.
41 responses to “Family of Muslim teen arrested for homemade clock files suit”
Leave a Reply
You must be logged in to post a comment.
Most unfortunate. I would like to think the Hawaii DOE would have done betetr. Texas is famous for bigotry, incompetence and vicious anti-immigrant cultures. One can now carry a gun into any classroom in that benighted state.
In my experience, this incident would not have happened. In the high school, even if a teacher had been concerned, (and most would have just looked at the device and said “very nice, what did you learn?”) Most administrators I know would have talked to the boy, looked at the device, and probably called parents to let them know that they were talking to the son and perhaps, this was not the best thing to bring to school given the current climate. Based on what’s been published, no disciplinary measures and certainly no police. Religion would play no part. (Interestingly, in Hawaii schools, most Muslim kids are often very quiet, hard working, and well liked by other students.)
he did not build a clock–he took a digital radio shack clock apart, then reassembled it. and it did look like it could be a bomb–better safe than sorry.
Allie, you’re a straight-up Kool-Aid drinker. This kid should have been expelled from school for what he did. As though nobody understood exactly what he, and his family were up to. This lawsuit was as predictable as your comment. The school acted exactly as they should have. A Muslim kid walks into a school with a simulated bomb, and everyone is supposed to pat him on the head, and tell him what a great job he did making it look like a bomb, but was actually a clock? Sure! Way out in left field Allie, even for you. This family is now right at home in Yemen. Hopefully, they stay there.
Your prejudice simply shines through. The student built a clock in a school pencil box. Brought it to school to show his teacher. Period. The school charged Ahmed Mohammed with building a hoax bomb. Slam dunk. The school district will settle out of count. The family gets $$$.
Your attitude and heart full of hate is the problem with this world.
Are you talking to Allie or peanutgallery?
In this day and age, suspended for 3 days for what could have been a bomb? The city should counter sue for the potential trouble this kid caused.
Any kid, not just a Muslim, would be treated the same if he brought in a essentially concealed homemade clock.
Have you ever lived in Texas. Your imagination is not a reflection of what it is really like. And accusing Texas of being bigots, incompetent, and vicious anti-immigrant is no where near reality and is a statement boarding on paranoia. P.S. Teachers carrying guns in classrooms is meant to protect the kids from people intent on doing them harm. Nobody else can stop these “terrorists” in time and Texas kids would be more than lucky to have a teacher put his life om the line to protect them.
I believe anyone can carry a gun in school there, not just teachers.
This was for Allie.
If you want to talk about immigrant treatment, the USA is among tops in the world. A more apt comparison is not Texas vs Hawaii, but USA vs Muslim countries like Qatar, where working immigrants routinely disappear without a trace, and nobody cares.
I know there are many frivolous lawsuits but this isn’t one of them. There’s definitely an anti-Muslim undercurrent in this country, that’s undeniable. To someone who hasn’t ever been subject to this kind of treatment this lawsuit may seem unwarranted but for someone as young as him to have to go through such an experience is unacceptable. I don’t think anyone can say that a non-Muslim student would have been subject to the same kind of treatment.
“I know there are many frivolous lawsuits but this isn’t one of them. There’s definitely an anti-Muslim undercurrent in this country, that’s undeniable.”
Maybe because all of the terrorism the US has suffered came at the hands of Muslims?
“Maybe because all of the terrorism the US has suffered came at the hands of Muslims?” Nope not even close to true. Besides, America has invaded Muslim lands, not the other way around. Does that give Muslims the right to hate all Americans?
What a coincidence. The worlds ten most dangerous terrorists are Muslim:
http://www.cnn.com/2013/10/09/world/meast/top-10-terrorists/
Guess it’s also a coincidence that’s an American list. Besides racial profiling is illegal (yes religion is included) in the US. If you say it’s ok, there really is nothing left to argue.
Here’s the thing. If the texas kid was, white and christian, everything would have been settled at the vp office.
And electing kirk means the rail is built on time and on budget. Not.
So you’re saying that a non-Muslim would never have been subjected to this kind of treatment? How do you know that to be true? What if a non-Muslim went through this? Would you think it to be okay but not for a Muslim? Personally, I think in today’s PC world this became a news story only because it involved a Muslim. I wouldn’t be surprised if this happened multiple times to non-Muslims but nobody cared.
I don’t think a non-Muslim would go through this. Of course I can’t prove it, but you can’t prove otherwise either. PC world? Ridiculous. Everyone’s definition of PC is different depending on their agenda.
agree with Mori. Remember, other immigrant groups have suffered from stereotypes and bias. Mori knows of what I speak.
Ridiculous. While I don’t know all the details of this case I think most people would agree that the school had a responsibility to act in a manner of significant caution because of their responsibility to protect all of their students. This family’s notoriety, which new seems to have backfired, was due to all of the publicity they and even the president sought.
Did his parents know & see what he created prior to the kid it to school?
….prior to the kid ‘taking’ it to school.
Show me the money!!!!!!!
students have been suspended and arrested for drawing firearms, biting snacks into what a teacher thought resembled a firearm, and for pointing a finger at another student that a teacher interpreted as the student’s hand miming a firearm.
in this incident, a student took apart a clock and reorganized its workings to mimic a triggering device for an improvised explosive device or bomb.
only in obama’s world can this student be credited with inventing something by removing a clock’s outer shell.
try taking a revolver frame into a classroom without its cylinder, trigger, hammer and firing pin. the school would be all over that student with suspensions and arrests and the student and parents would be prosecuted not invited to the white house for asr.
(“try taking a revolver frame into a classroom without its cylinder, trigger, hammer and firing pin.” The key idea here in the Hawaii Administrative Rules, Ch.19 is “…capable of expelling a projectile.” In that case, the Federal Safe and Drug Free Schools Act with it’s mandated removal from the schools for one calendar year may not apply. (removal from the schools for bringing a “firearm” is a part of the federal statute which is referenced by the HAR)
That said, if a child brought a revolver frame, ammunition, or other firearms parts to school, administration would be all over it and most likely, with police involvement. Students in Hawaii have been removed for a calendar year with the right to appeal for bringing AirSoft guns to school. In the last decade or so, there have been very few instances of kids apprehended for bringing actual firearms to schools; perhaps two? Parents likely would not face prosecution even though they are responsible for the actions of minor children.)
Exactly why would a teen make a clock in a pencil case. Sounds a little suspicious to me. Just like when I made homemade gunpowder at home, packed it tight, and blew up my model ships. It was just fun to me, but I could see authorities having some qualms about my actions. But building a clock in a pencil case is a little more weird even to me.
Bill Gates and Paul Allen, you know the fathers of personal computers, first computers relied on precise counting. From there everything else fell into place. Digital clocks and circuit boards of these boards are the basis to PC. Digital IEDS are Hollywood stuff. Time devices are kitchen timers, you know”physical movement”. This kid taking apart a digital clock,separating components,mother board and power source is a future scientist. Oh well.
And what would happen to an American in a Muslim country doing the same thing? Shot dead……….
What’s would an American be doing in a hostile muslim country keolu? Duhhhhhhhh. Oh wait, maybe a radical Islamic American lone wolf.
This kid and his family are just trying to milk the system. Ironically, they do not believe in what our country and Constitution stand for but will hide behind it
to suit their purposes. They should return to where they can from and that goes for all like them who have values diametrically opposed to Western values
and beliefs. There are many from around the world who want to come here because they believe in what this country offers them and do want to assimilate.
I welcome people like that as those are the kind of people we want but not people like this kid and his family.
They have every right to seek judicial redress for their losses. And there is no excuse for any state making guns so available. University of Texas faculty is protesting students bringing guns into their class. It is dangerous and is causing tension. Thank God Hawaii has strong gun control laws here as gun violence is much rarer here than Texas. Hard to admire anything about Texas at this point.
Maybe the pressure is taking its toll on the boy. He’s looking sort of skinny and anorexic.
He looked that way the day he walked into school with his so-called home made clock. Incidentally, a time bomb is a clock that explodes at a preset time.
“Irving police later dropped the charge, but he was still suspended for three days. He never returned to the school; his family opted to have him take classes elsewhere.” Right, to “take classes elsewhere.” They took him to the Sudan where he met with Omar Hassan Ahmed al-Bashir, aka Butcher of Sudan, and then to Qatar where he now lives. What better places are there to take classes on bomb making?
The kid must have set off “flags” to the teacher he shared his device with.
Yes,one big flag was.being darker and muslim. Sorry that’s 2 flags, for a total of 30 yards.FIRST DOWN,Ahmed.
I second the post of allie. I would not visit Texas if I had a free trip to there. Maybe Texas still wants to susceed from the US.