JEDDAH: The American Muslim teenager who was arrested because his teacher mistook his homemade clock for a bomb says he plans to invent a device that can produce free electricity.

Ahmed Mohammed Al-Hassan, who has Sudanese heritage, made this announcement during his visit here for Umrah at the expense of Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Salman.

The grade 11 student said the invention is a generator, which would use unconventional methods to produce electricity at virtually no cost. He is now looking for someone who will support his idea, a local publication reported Monday.

Ahmed’s father Mohammed said that his son uses all his spare time to make various devices. “We find it difficult to work out when he is playing and when he is not.”

Mohammed said that Ahmed once objected when his mother took ice cream sticks from his bedroom, because he had been using them for over a year to build a house.

Ahmed said that the clock he made consisted of items he had collected that no one else wanted, including old phones, televisions and pagers. “It was easy to make,” he said. He has 13 other inventions that he hopes would be made into products.

Ahmed’s treatment caused a media storm in the United States, with President Barak Obama and Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg supporting him. He has received offers to study at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and offered jobs by Google and Twitter.

Microsoft sent him a computer and printer; and a company that previously rejected his inventions, and wanted him to pay them $10,000 to develop his idea, now wants him to work for them, according to the report.

Mohammed said the family was shocked when Ahmed was arrested because America is supposed to encourage scientists and scholars. It appeared Ahmed was singled out because of the prejudice that still prevails against Islam and Muslims, he said.

The young inventor has a hobby of fixing electronic gadgets for his friends and teachers. He made a remote control mechanism to switch off a projector. He also helped his older sister with items needed for her medical engineering studies.