The Ahmed Mohamed Case

Following is an article by sister Saima Sheikh on Patheos Blog about the Irving incident where a Musilm boy was arrested, handcuffed and suspended from school, apparently for no crime than pure suspicion by the school officials and the Irving Police Department.

A 14 year old ninth grader was pulled from his class by police officers and school principal and interrogated for about 1 ½ hours. His crime: He brought a homemade digital clock to school to show his engineering teacher. He is a Muslim and his name is Ahmed Mohamed. This happened this past Monday at MacArthur High School in Irving, TX (suburb of Dallas). According to Ahmed’s initial interview with Dallas Morning News, the events during his interrogation were, “Ahmed never claimed his device was anything but a clock, said police spokesman James McLellan. And police have no reason to think it was dangerous. But officers still didn’t believe Ahmed was giving them the whole story. “We have no information that he claimed it was a bomb,” McLellan said. “He kept maintaining it was a clock, but there was no broader explanation.” Asked what broader explanation the boy could have given, the spokesman explained: “It could reasonably be mistaken as a device if left in a bathroom or under a car. The concern was, what was this thing built for? Do we take him into custody?” Police led Ahmed out of MacArthur about 3 p.m., his hands cuffed behind him and an officer on each arm.”

Read the full blog here