Freed Google Exec in Egypt Gives His First Interviews

As expected, Wael Ghonim, the Google exec that has been detained by Egyptian authorities for his involvement in the current anti-government protests in the country, has been released from prison. He was held blindfolded for 12 days, but is otherwise unharmed. He has given a couple of interviews since his release and published several tweets.

In his first interview, right after his release, he asked for people not to call him a hero, saying he has spent the last 12 days sleeping rather than being on the streets with the protesters.

"Firstly, I’d like to give my condolences to the families of the Egyptians who died, I give my condolences to them," he said.

"I can’t say that I apologize because no protester broke anything, all protests were peaceful and our motto was 'Do Not Break'," he added.

"Second of all I want to say please don’t make a hero out of me, on the contrary I’m a person who was sleeping for 12 days. The real heroes are the people on the ground," Ghonim said.

Ghonim was picked up by the state security in the first days of the revolution. He was kidnapped for his part preceding the actual protests. He was interrogated by the police during his detainment but says he was not treated badly.

He has met with the Interior Minister shortly after he was released. While he believes change is still needed, he has asked protesters to not resort to violence.

A later interview for a local TV station sparked new life in the determination of the protesters who took to Twitter to air their support.

"I am proud of what I did. This is not the time to settle scores. Although I have people I want to settle scores with myself. This is not the time to split the pie & enforce ideologies," he said in his second interview.

"I want to tell families who lost their sons this is not our fault. This is the fault of those clinging to power," he ended. About 300 people have been killed in Egypt since the protests began.

You can go to YouTube if the close captioned versions of the videos do not load.