Richard Dawkins sparks controversy, slams schoolboy Ahmed for 'pretending to invent' clock

Courting controversy, evolutionary biologist Richard Dawkins has slammed 14-year old  American schoolboy Ahmed Mohamed  on Twitter, who was arrested after a clock he built was mistaken for a bomb sparked international outrage.

In a series of tweets, Professor Dawkins suggested Ahmed might have “wanted to be arrested”, and then further criticised the boy for claiming the clock was his “invention”.

Though Dawkins did not dispute that his arrest was wrong, he strongly questioned his invention. He tweeted:

If this is true, what was his motive? Whether or not he wanted the police to arrest him, they shouldn’t have done so https://t.co/LtOFAAmVxK

— Richard Dawkins (@RichardDawkins) September 20, 2015

Assembling clock from bought components is fine. Taking clock out of its case to make it look as if he built it is not fine. Which is true?

— Richard Dawkins (@RichardDawkins) September 20, 2015

Dawkins then went on to say that Ahmed was just trying to impress his teachers. Of course, the barrage of protest tweets Dawkins got quickly led him to state that he still thought arresting the boy was wrong.

Yes, there are other reasons why a boy might take a clock out of its casing & pretend he'd made it. Trying to impress teachers, for instance

— Richard Dawkins (@RichardDawkins) September 20, 2015

OK, fraudulent claiming of an "invention" is not heinous. And he certainly should not have been arrested by the police.

— Richard Dawkins (@RichardDawkins) September 20, 2015

The media interest in Ahmed’s story, which Dawkins referenced in his tweets, has seen the boy being invited to meet Barack Obama.

As if the boy’s command over English was the main issue, Dawkins also said that maybe Ahmed did not know what the word ‘invention’ meant.

I agree, although his English seems good, it's possible he doesn't know the meaning of "invention". And he should NOT have been arrested.

— Richard Dawkins (@RichardDawkins) September 20, 2015

Yes, I completely agree with that. He should most certainly NOT have been arrested, handcuffed etc. https://t.co/B2yvE00Db9

— Richard Dawkins (@RichardDawkins) September 20, 2015

That could well be true, in which case I apologise. I guess I'm a bit sensitive about being among the many fooled. https://t.co/Tkhg3rfM2L

— Richard Dawkins (@RichardDawkins) September 20, 2015

He then retweeted President Obama’s White House invitation to the boy.