#IStandWithAhmed movement sparks support from President Obama, Mark Zuckerberg and Hillary Clinton
14-year-old Ahmed Mohamed was arrested earlier this week after teachers at his Texas high school mistook his homemade clock for a bomb.
Although charges were quickly dropped, many have come out on social media to support Mohamed with the hashtag ‘#IStandWithAhmed.’
CEO of Facebook Mark Zuckerberg invited the student to visit Facebook’s headquarters.
In a post on his personal Facebook page, Zuckerberg wrote: "Having the skill and ambition to build something cool should lead to applause, not arrest. The future belongs to people like Ahmed. Ahmed, if you ever want to come by Facebook, I'd love to meet you."
President Barack Obama also tweeted support for Mohamed with an invitation to the White House.
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.
— President Obama (@POTUS) September 16, 2015
Hillary Clinton said in a tweet: “Assumptions and fear don’t keep us safe – they hold us back. Ahmed, stay curious and keep building.”
The hashtag ‘#IStandWithAhmed’ is currently trending on Twitter, with more than 700,000 mentions.