14-Year-Old Ahmed Mohamed Gets Lots Of Support From Social Media

When Muslim-American high school freshman Ahmed Mohamed presented a science project he'd been working on to his teachers, he never imagined that at the end of the day he'd be in handcuffs and arrested. But, that's exactly what happened.

The 14-year-old, who goes to school in Irving, TX, wanted to show his teachers a digital clock he'd made from a pencil box. "I built a clock to impress my teacher but when I showed it to her, she thought it was a threat to her," he told reporters. "It was really sad that she took the wrong impression of it."

Police were then called, who later handcuffed and arrested Ahmed for making a "hoax bomb". Those charges were later dropped.

The story quickly spread to social media, where it was met with outrage over the way the situation was handled, while on Twitter, #IStandWithAhmed has trended worldwide.

Ahmed has a lot of famous people in his corner, too, including President Obama, who tweeted, "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."

Ahmed says that he will indeed take the President up on his offer.

And Facebook creator Mark Zuckerberg showed his support by posting, "Having the skill and ambition to build something cool should lead to applause, not arrest. The future belongs to people like Ahmed. Ahmed, if you ever want to come by Facebook, I'd love to meet you. Keep building."

The boy's father says that the family is considering taking legal action against the school, and may transfer from the school altogether.

Source: CNN.com