While I was posting a video clip yesterday about Twitter & some of the neat things people & businesses can do with it, James Karl Buck found a new one. He was tossed into an Egyptian jail cell. Apparently, in Egypt where abuse of prisoners is common, they let him keep his phone. So, he Twittered a single word: "ARRESTED."
That put many wheels in motion and for him, it led to the US Embassy getting him out of both jail and back to his Oakland. But, Buck was told by police that his interpreter, Mohammed Maree was arrested and "he is a dead man." Since arriving here today. Buck has been doing his best to raise Hell on behalf of Mohammed. On his Twitter account he asks that anyone who cares contact Egyptian Press Consul Attiya A Shakran, (415) 346-3427 [email protected] (415) 548-0556
You can learn more about Mohammed at James' blog, linked to above.
James is a journalism grad student at UC Berkeley. He was in Egypt to cover blogger involvement in the current demonstrations against food shortages. ABC News is saying those demonstrations turned turned into riots.
In any case, Egypt is no place to get thrown into the slammer. Earlier this year, I interviewed Wael Abbas, who posts videos on YouTube showing abundant evidence of police abuse. A couple of weeks ago Wael told me he would be blogging about the strike. I hope that he is okay.
