Syria: Two Returned Home Safely, Khaled El Ghayesh Still Missing

This post is part of our special coverage Syria Protests 2011.

Last week, Egyptian-American Muhammad Radwan (known as @battutta on Twitter) was arrested in Syria and accused of spying, as well as of receiving requests from abroad for photos and videos about Syria. On April 1, CNN reported that Radwan had been released to the Egyptian Embassy in Damascus.

Yesterday, Radwan announced on Twitter that he'd made it home safely:

just landed in om el donya*, great to be home #egypt

American student Tik Root, who had been studying Arabic in Syria, also made it home safely, after spending two weeks in prison. Root was arrested on March 18 for taking photographs of a protest.

Egypt-based @Tom_El_Rumi tweeted:

As well as @battutta coming back2 Egypt, American student Tik Root returned home from Syrian custody yday http://j.mp/dYV5jz #FREEKHALED

The #FreeKhaled hashtag in Tom's tweet refers to yet another Egyptian who has gone missing in Syria, Khaled El Ghayesh (@kghayesh on Twitter). As Hassan El Ghayesh has tweeted, there is no confirmation that Khaled has been arrested; Hassan has suggested using #khaledmissing to refer to the young man.

Hassan El Ghayesh tweets:

thanks to you guys and thanks to @battutta .. the egyptian embassy's only concern right now is finding #khaledelghayesh #khaledmissing

There is also a Facebook page set up to help find Khaled.

Shortly after his own arrival home, Muhammad Radwan shared his own concern for Khaled, tweeting:

The love and support overwhelming. But #freekhaled is my biggest concern right now, please retweet

*”Om el donya” roughly translates to “Mother of the world” and is used to refer to Egypt.

This post is part of our special coverage Syria Protests 2011.

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