“Clock Boy” is back. Ahmed Mohamed, the 14-year-old son of Muslim immigrants from Sudan, became a media sensation last year after he was arrested for bringing a weird homemade clock to school. (Some schools officials thought it looked suspiciously like a bomb.)
The sorts of people who are often outraged were especially outraged that a Muslim science genius would be arrested for bringing clock to school, even though the clock looked less like an actual clock than it did a potential bomb.
Now Ahmed’s family, which has since relocated to Qatar, has filed a federal lawsuit against his former hometown of Irving, Texas, alleging that the school district violated the boy’s constitutional protections under the Civil Rights Act. The lawsuit claims Ahmed was subjected to discrimination since his arrival at school in the third grade.
Ahmed’s “homemade” clock, which was actually a normal alarm clock that he took apart and put back together in a fancy pencil case, earned him a shout out from President Obama and an invitation to the White House.
Ahmed embarked on a media tour of sorts, and even met with Sudanese president Omar al-Bashir, also known as the “Butcher of Darfur,” who is the first sitting head of state to be indicted by the International Criminal Court for war crimes.
At the height of the controversy, Ahmed’s family threatened to sue the city of Irving for $15 million in damages. The current lawsuit, however, does not list any monetary demands.
City officials have denied any wrongdoing in the case, and said in a statement that the city is “prepared to vigorously defend itself and the justifiable actions it took in this matter.”