[During the event, Ahmad Mohammad took a selfie with the Turkish premier and his wife. Anadolu Agency image]
New York: Turkish Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu met on Friday with the Muslim student who was arrested in the United States after his teacher mistook his homemade clock for a bomb, Anadolu Agency reported.
PM Davutoglu, who was in New York to attend some UN meetings, has greeted the 14 year-old Ahmad Mohammad at an event organized by the Turken Foundation, which helps Turkish students in the US.
According to Anadolu Agency, Ahmed's father, Mohammad El-Hassan Mohammad, said that the family was grateful for Turkey’s support.
“What happened to my son is something ridiculous”, he said. “You accuse a Muslim because he is a Muslim. We need all this Islamophobia to stop.”
During the event, Ahmad Mohammad took a selfie with the Turkish premier and his wife.
Ahmed, whose family are from Sudan, made international headlines when he was handcuffed, arrested and fingerprinted by police on September 16, after a homemade clock he brought to the school was mistaken for a bomb.
His arrest was widely criticized and the charges against him were eventually dropped. Ahmed received messages of support from a number of high-profile figures including President Barack Obama, who invited the boy to the White House.
The incident took place at a time when rising Islamophobia has exacerbated the debate around religious freedom in the US.
It is noteworthy that such debate reached even U.S. Presidential Race 2016 hopefuls, a while ago, US communities were outraged at Donald Trump, who agreed with a question that indicated Muslims as a problem in the US, and Ben Carson when he said that he would not advocate putting a Muslim in charge of the nation.