Detained Egyptian Google Exec to Be Released

Earlier this month, Google revealed that one of its Egyptian executives had been missing for nearly a week. Last seen in central Cairo, Wael Ghonim, the head of marketing for the Middle East and North Africa, had traveled to his native Cairo and during his trip was vocal about the anti-government demonstrations taking place.

Though his location up until now has been unknown, video footage of someone resembling Wael being arrested was released earlier this month, and many presumed he had been detained. On Sunday afternoon, Egyptian telecoms tycoon Naguib Sawiris said that authorities had promised Ghonim missing in Cairo would be ''freed'' on Monday. The news came during a conversation with a TV channel about talks Sawiris had had with Vice President Omar Suleiman earlier that same day. Before Sunday, authorities had not confirmed whether or not Wael had been detained.

While it’s not clear who is holding the Google executive, Ghonim is supposedly being released today 2pm GMT (6am PT, 9am ET), and a spokesperson for Orascom Telecom confirmed the remarks made by the company’s chairman. We’ll keep you posted as things progress.

[Update] According to Wael's brother, Wael has been released. His brother said he was on his way to Tahrir Square, a center for the anti-government protests.

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  • mister g
    Should I hazard a guess that the government was holding the exec based on his actions?
    Reply
  • TheWhiteRose000
    Least he is okay,.
    I bet his friend's and family and google were all worried about him.
    Reply
  • dkant1n
    Good for him. Now we should hope that all the other detained ppl is released, not just the executives from big corporations
    Reply
  • lamorpa
    This headline may have been more clear if it said,

    Detained Egyptian Google Exec held in captivity to Be Released

    Then again it could always be simplified (and non-redundant) and say,

    Egyptian Google Exec to Be Released
    Reply
  • he was not held in captivity, he was (officially) kidnapped, since no official representative claimed to know anything about him, then he was released from their building!!!
    He's now fine, and hope things will changes in Egypt soon
    Reply
  • lamorpa
    Walmoohe was not held in captivity, he was (officially) kidnapped, since no official representative claimed to know anything about him, then he was released from their building!!!He's now fine, and hope things will changes in Egypt soonI was making a joke about the redundancy of the headline, unless, of course, there was a non-detained Google exec to somehow be released...
    Reply
  • eddieroolz
    So I was right; he was being held, unjustly so.
    Reply
  • victomofreality
    I'm curious what he was saying there...
    Reply
  • Cobra007
    He created a page on facebook called "we are all Khaleed Said" who was brutally murdered by the egyptian police about a year ago and the page gained momentum and and started adressing other various political issues. of course none of us knew who the admin was until today which gives you an idea of the monitoring the government was applying on any political activities. Also and most importantly he was one of the main groups calling for the mass protests on the 25h of januaray which led to the uprising now in egypt.
    Reply
  • dioxholster
    time for Google to action against egyptian government
    Reply