US teenager arrested over clock mistaken for bomb

Ahmed Mohamed

A Muslim teen in the US was led out of a Texas school in handcuffs after a teacher mistook his homemade digital clock for a bomb.

A photo of Ahmed Mohamed, 14, standing in handcuffs while wearing a t-shirt with the US space agency NASA's logo was retweeted thousands of times in a matter of hours and "#IStandWithAhmed" was the top trending hashtag on Twitter.

Among those voicing support for the boy was US President Barack Obama.

He congratulated Ahmed on his skills and issued a presidential invitation, in what amounts to a pointed rebuke to school and police officials who precipitated his arrest.

"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," the president tweeted.

Hillary Clinton tweeted: "Assumptions and fear don't keep us safe-they hold us back. Ahmed, stay curious and keep building."

Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg also invited Ahmed to visit his office. 

The teenager told The Dallas Morning News that he was just trying to impress his teachers when he brought the clock to MacArthur High school on Monday.

"My hobby is to invent stuff," he said in a video posted on the paper's website that was filmed in his electronics-filled bedroom.

"I made a clock. It was really easy. I wanted to show something small at first... they took it wrong so I was arrested for a hoax bomb."