Google exec Wael Ghonim is Egypt’s new protest icon

Have the Egyptian protesters camped out in Tahrir Square finally found the man they can rally behind? It seems chance has delivered them just the young, charismatic and articulate character they were looking for in a figurehead.

He is Wael Ghonim, a 30-year-old pro-democracy activist who set up an anti-government Facebook group - and who just happens to be a Google executive - and whose appearance on Egyptian television yesterday looks set to galvinise the flagging protesters. Some are even talking him up as a potential future president.

Picked up by Egyptian police on January 27 - two days after the protests took off - Ghonim was Google's head of marketing for the Middle East and North Africa.

What few knew - until he admitted it yesterday - was that he was also the man behind a Facebook page called 'We are all Khaled Said', aimed at ending Egypt's 30-year-old state of emergency.

The page, which is named after a 28-year-old man who was tortured to death by the Egyptian police, has been used to orchestrate some of the protests in Egypt over the past fortnight.

Ghonim was working at his office in Dubai when he saw the popular protests that had brought down the Tunisian government begin to take off in Egypt. He lied to his employers, telling them he had a personal issue to resolve, and flew back home to take part in the protests.

His subsequent arrest prompted a nationwide search by Google, which appealed for information as to his whereabouts. He was finally released yesterday and, shortly afterwards, was interviewed on Dream TV, an independently-owned Egyptian network.

Revealing he was the man behind the 'We are all Khaled Said' Facebook page, Ghonim debunked the suggestion that the Islamist Muslim Brotherhood had anything to do with organising the demonstrations - a charge that has been levelled by some in the Western media.

"This revolution belonged to the youth of the internet, then it belonged to all young Egyptians, then it belonged to all of Egypt," he said, before telling Mubarak: "This country is not yours: its ours."

Ghonim denied he was a hero, and said the police treated him with Respect during his detention. But what really hurt him was being accused by an officer of being a traitor.

"He later changed his mind," said Ghonim. "But we're not traitors... If I was a traitor I would have stayed by the swimming pool in my house in the United Arab Emirates and enjoyed my life.

"Should I say what other people say: let Egypt burn? That's what I'd say if I was a traitor."

In an emotional climax to the interview, Ghonim was shown pictures of the people who had died in the protests so far. Weeping, he said: "It's not our fault. It's the fault of everyone who clung on to power."

Ghonim's words look certain to galvanise the protesters, if the reaction on Twitter - a key tool for the activists - is anything to go by.

One user wrote: "Oh boy! This is far from over!!! The revolution has just started all over again!" And another predicted: "The tears of Ghonim is the end of Mubarak and his cronies. He is finished." ·