The latest news coming out of Egypt is that the government is cracking down on foreign journalists in retaliation for their coverage of the riots in Tahrir Square. AP correspondent Hadeel al-Shalchi tweeted this morning that, “The reports are saying military is taking journos into ‘protective custody,’ while Octavia Nasr warns, “Foreigners, look out! Police are after all of us!”
None of this is news for Google, whose head of Middle East Marketing, Wael Ghonim, has been missing since Tuesday, Jan. 25. On Wednesday, eight days after Ghonim went missing, Google announced that it has no new information about its executives whereabouts, though demonstrators from the April 6 youth movement believe that he is being held in government custody. According to Ghonim’s brother, the family has been receiving midnight phone calls from unnamed sources, claiming that Wael is “being taught a lesson.”
In recognition of Ghonim’s disappearance, the April 6 movement announced this morning that it has named him their spokesperson, hoping that this will pressure the government to release him. Google has been more circumspect about his fate, telling CNN that, “We take the security of our employees very seriously, so I’m sure you’ll understand that we can’t comment on individual employees.”
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