Google Says Its Exec Held in Egypt Was Freed

CAIRO - A Google manager held in Egypt over anti-government protests was freed Monday, and he immediately rejoined protestors in Tahrir Square, reports Dubai broadcaster Al-Arabiya.

Google itself announced on its Twitter feed that Wael Ghonim, a Google Inc. marketing manager who took part in the protests and was reported missing Jan. 27, had been set free.

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Earlier in the week, a leader of Egypt's "6th of April" youth opposition movement told CBS News' Khaled Wassef that the protesters in Cairo's Tahrir Square had symbolically nominated Google's missing executive as their spokesperson in order to press the Egyptian authorities to release him.

If the government leaders "want to talk to us, talk to Ghonim," a senior member of the group told Wassef Thursday morning.

Journalist Belal Fadl told Al-Jazeera television on Wednesday that Ghonim's family was receiving "terrorizing" phone calls in the middle of the night.

Wael Ghonim's brother Hazem told Fadl that the family has been called during the middle of the night and told that Ghonim is being "taught a lesson."