Muslim boy arrested over clock withdraws from US school

Ahmed Mohamed and his siblings have yet to decide which school to enrol in after father withdraws them.

Ahmed Mohamed’s father wants to take his son on a pilgrimage to the Muslim holy city of Mecca [AP]

A 14-year-old Muslim boy has withdrawn from the Dallas high school that got him arrested for a homemade clock mistaken for a possible bomb.

Mohamed El-Hassan Mohamed, Ahmed Mohamed’s father, said on Monday that he pulled all of his children from schools in the Irving Independent School District.

“Ahmed said, ‘I don’t want to go to MacArthur,'” Ahmed’s father told The Dallas Morning News. “These kids aren’t going to be happy there.”

Mohamed said the family was still deciding where to send the children to school.

Numerous schools have offered to enrol Ahmed, his father said. But Mohamed said he wants to give his son a breather before making a decision.

The turmoil surrounding Ahmed’s case has had a harmful effect on the teen, Mohamed said, adding that his son has lost his appetite and is not sleeping well.

“It’s torn the family and makes us very confused,” Mohamed said.

On Wednesday, his entire family plans to fly to New York, Mohamed said, where United Nations dignitaries were due to meet his son.

Then Mohamed wants to take his son on a pilgrimage to the Muslim holy city of Mecca in Saudi Arabia if the appropriate visas can be obtained.

“I ask Allah to bless this time. After that, we’ll see,” Mohamed said.

When they return, a visit to the White House and a meeting with President Barack Obama is being planned, he said.

Ahmed has said he brought the clock he made to MacArthur High School in Irving last week to show a teacher.

Officials say he was arrested after another teacher saw it and became concerned. Ahmed wasn’t charged, but he was suspended from school for three days.