While America was falling in love with Ahmed, the right wing internet was having a field day with the story. They decided that Ahmed's clock wasn't really homemade, or at least not homemade enough, and it really did look like a bomb, so therefore fuck that adorable 14-year-old kid!
A family friend named Anthony Bond, told The Washington Post "Everybody's vilifying him, and he's not a villain. He's a 14 year old boy," adding, "The whole world was concerned about this, and it's impossible that anyone could have expected this international reaction."
One of those international reactions was an invitation from the Qatar Foundation for Education, that will let Ahmed join something called a "Young Inventors Program." So if we're going to be dicks to him in the States, he'll be inventing shit in Qatar.
That's after he got to go to "Astronomy Night," at the White House, to meet Obama, and—in a twist that was probably even more fun—Bill Nye the Science Guy, and NASA administrator Charlie Bolden. Prior to that event, Ahmed had been on a whirlwind "I dropped out of school and am suddenly famous!" tour, during which he met Queen Raina of Jordan, and—since he has Sudanese ancestry—the fairly horrifying president of Sudan.
In a statement to The Washington Post, Ahmed wrote that he was excited about his big move to Doha, Qatar: "I loved the city of Doha because it's so modern. I saw so many amazing schools there, many of them campuses of famous American universities. The teachers were great. I think I will learn a lot and have fun too."
He thinks that now, but let's not forget he's on the cusp of puberty, and 15 is a rough year for anyone.
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Note: The location where he was taken in handcuffs was on campus, not a jail, as a previous version stated.