This post is part of our special coverage Syria Protests 2011 [1].
Last week, Egyptian-American Muhammad Radwan (known as @battutta on Twitter) was arrested [2] 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 [3] that Radwan had been released to the Egyptian Embassy in Damascus.
Yesterday, Radwan announced on Twitter [4] 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 [5], after spending two weeks in prison. Root was arrested on March 18 for taking photographs of a protest.
Egypt-based @Tom_El_Rumi tweeted [6]:
As well as @battutta coming back2 Egypt, American student Tik Root returned home from Syrian custody yday http://j.mp/dYV5jz #FREEKHALED
[7]The #FreeKhaled hashtag in Tom's tweet refers to yet another Egyptian who has gone missing in Syria, Khaled El Ghayesh (@kghayesh [8] 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 [9]:
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 [10] set up to help find Khaled.
Shortly after his own arrival home, Muhammad Radwan shared his own concern for Khaled, tweeting [11]:
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 [1].