Family of Muslim teen arrested over clock files lawsuit

The lawsuit, filed Monday in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Texas, alleges that Ahmed Mohamed’s civil rights under the U.S. constitution were violated by the Irving Independent School District, Principal Daniel Cummings “in his individual capacity” and the City of Irving.

The lawsuit filed on August 8 argues 14-year-old Ahmed Mohamed’s civil rights were violated. The teen was arrested at his suburban Dallas high school in September and charged with having a hoax bomb.

Subsequently, the charges were dropped, but the story dominated the 24-hour news cycle and even drew attention from President Obama, who invited him to the White House on Astronomy Day.

The law firm representing the 14-year-old stated that they have sent letters requesting $10 million from the city of Irving and $5 million from the Irving Independent School District over the incident.

Irving ISD and city officials have not yet commented on the suit.

He and his family moved to Qatar following the arrest and subsequent outcry, but they came back to the Dallas-Fort Worth area for the summer.

Ahmed Mohamed speaks to the press before his meeting with Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir in Khartoum on October 14, 2015.

While the clock incident is the centerpiece of the suit, it also details a history of discrimination against the student – including allegations he was taunted by other students with nicknames of “Sausage Boy” and “Bacon Boy” in reference to his religion’s aversion to pork.

Ahmed Mohamed was arrested after bringing his homemade clock to school. The officers were well aware that the home-made clock was not a bomb, as indicated by their actions in plugging it in and keeping it in the room with them for nearly an hour and a half while they interrogated Ahmed.

Now a freshman in high school, Ahmed says he can’t build anything anymore.

“I want to be the voice for them, because it’s very wrong what happens to them”, Ahmed said.

The specifics of that lawsuit will not be known until after it has been filed.

“Because of all the lies and conspiracy theories thrown out about Ahmed and his family, he has received not just hate messages, but death threats”, the lawsuit states. When he began sixth grade at Sam Houston Middle School, he was still “an ‘outsider, ‘ still struggling with English and eager to impress his teachers”, according to the lawsuit. He never returned to the school.

This report contains information from the Star-Telegram archives.