Ahmed told the media he was “extremely delighted” to meet Bashir and said he hoped to meet the dictator of Sudan again “with a new invention and success,” reported the Sudan Tribune.
Ahmed and family were received at the Sudanese Presidential Residence.
The meeting raised eyebrows among typically hysterical Islamophobic US conservatives, and some Ahmed supporters.
— ובםב (@AmAhmad249) October 16, 2015
— Frank Gaffney (@frankgaffney) October 16, 2015— TwitchyTeam (@TwitchyTeam) October 15, 2015— Beercan Brian (@raiderlifer) October 15, 2015
Ahmed’s father, Mohamed Hassan al-Sufi, is a Sudanese immigrant to the United States, and a former presidential candidate in Sudan who ran against Bashir last year. Al-Sufi was excluded from the 2010 election for not gathering the required number of signatures. At the time, Al-Sufi accused the National Elections Commission and the National Congress Party of colluding to exclude him from the election.
"The NEC did not want me in the race under pressure from the NCP and Bashir. They know I have wide support among my tribe, farmers, Sufi sects and expatriates," Ahmed’s father told the Sudan Tribune in 2010.
Bashir is wanted on an International Criminal Court warrant for allegedly orchestrating war crimes, genocide and crimes against humanity during the Darfur conflict starting in 2003. He has ruled unchallenged for 26 years.
There appeared to be little signal of animosity between Al-Sufi and Bashir Wednesday, however. The Sudan Tribune reported Al-Sufi attended the meeting and told reporters that he hopes the youth of the country will “write a new history for an advanced and developed Sudan.”
Osama Bin Laden lived in Sudan during the 1990s after leaving Afghanistan, where he was backed by the CIA to fight the Soviet Union.
— Ahmed Mohamed (@IStandWithAhmed) October 14, 2015
— Siraj Wahab (@sirajwahab) October 11, 2015— Qatar Foundation (@QF) October 4, 2015
Ahmed posted many images from his trip to the Muslim world on social media, including a picture with his male family members performing umrah next to the Kabaa inside Mecca’s Grand Mosque, and with students in Qatar.
— Ahmed Mohamed (@IStandWithAhmed) October 10, 2015
— Ahmed Mohamed (@IStandWithAhmed) October 13, 2015— Ahmed Mohamed (@IStandWithAhmed) October 16, 2015
