As we heard this morning, detained Google Middle East Marketing Director Wael Ghonim was finally released. He just issued this Tweet after a nearly two week long absence from social networking: “Freedom is a bless that deserves fighting for it.”
Ghonim has been missing since Thursday, January 27th and was believed to have hosted the first Facebook page that organized the January 25th protests. According to reports, Ghonim disappeared shortly after he sent the following Tweet, “Very worried as it seems that government is planning a war crime tomorrow against people. We are all ready to die.” That was the last Tweet issued by the Google employee.
There have been conflicting reports about Ghonim’s expected release today. The Wall Street Journal reported this morning the State Department has confirmed that Ghonim has been released. But The New York Times’ Jen Preston reports that the State Department has not confirmed Ghonim’s release.
We’re assuming that his Tweet is an indication that Ghonim has been release and is safe.