Egyptian web activist freed after protests tells TV station: ‘I am no hero’

Google executive’s emotional interview after his release hailed as a landmark moment in Egypt revolt An emotional television interview given by a young Egyptian Google executive who was arrested after playing a key role in using the internet to spark the uprising against Hosni Mubarak is being hailed as a landmark moment in the ongoing revolt after it struck a chord across Egypt and beyond. Wael Ghonim, a marketing manager who became a hero to anti-government protestors after he went missing on 27 January, confirmed in the interview following his release that he was behind a highly influential Facebook page that helped lead to what he described as “the revolution of the youth of the internet.” Before his appearance on Monday on a privately owned Egyptian television channel, the father-of-two was held in repute by many who believed that he was the anonymous activist behind a Facebook page named after a young Egyptian businessman whose death at the hands of police in June set off months of protests. The page, ” We are all Khaled Said “, became one of the main tools for organising the demonstrations that started the revolt in earnest on 25 January. However, Ghonim’s stature across the country now appears destined to rise dramatically if the post-interview reaction on the internet is anything to go by. Calls are being made for him to stand as president. Others predicted that his performance, which was being acclaimed as a tour de force of calm but explosive political passion, would inevitably boost the numbers of those attending the latest mass demonstration in Cairo’s Tahrir square and elsewhere this morning. “I am not a hero. I only used the keyboard, the real heroes are the ones on the ground. Those I can’t name,” said Ghonim, who sobbed throughout the interview, which ended with him being overcome with emotion as he was shown images of some of those who died in the uprising. While insisting that he had not been tortured and saying his interrogators treated him with respect, he said he was taken aback when others who he met in jail believed that he was “a traitor”. “Anyone with good intentions is the traitor because being evil is the norm,” he said. “If I was a traitor, I would have stayed in my villa in the Emirates and made good money and said like others, let this country go to hell. But we are not traitors,” added Ghonim, an Egyptian who oversees Google’s marketing in the Middle East and Africa from Dubai, one of the United Arab Emirates. According to early English translations which were posted online hours after the Arab language interview on DreamTV, Ghonim added: “I wasn’t optimistic on the 25th but now I can’t believe it.” He went on: “Inside I met people who loved Egypt but their methods and mine are not the same. I pay these guys’ salaries from my taxes, I have the right to ask the ministers where my money is going, this is our country. “I believe that if things get better those [who he met in prison] will serve Egypt well. Don’t stand in our way, we are going to serve Egypt. I saw a film director get slapped, they told him ‘You will die here’. Why?” He also downplayed the supposedly cental role of Islamist activists in the revolt, saying: “There was no Muslim Brotherhood presence in organising these protests, it was all spontaneous, voluntary. Even when the Muslim Brotherhood decided to take part it was their choice to do so. This belongs to Egyptian youth. Please everyone, enough rumours. Enough.” Ghonim’s whereabouts were not known until Sunday, when a prominent Egyptian political figure confirmed he was under arrest and would soon be released. He looked exhausted and said he had been unable to sleep for 48 hours, but not because he was being mistreated. Egypt Middle East Google Facebook Internet Social networking Ben Quinn guardian.co.uk

Posted by on February 8, 2011. Filed under News, Politics, World News. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can leave a response or trackback to this entry