Leading Egyptian Facebook Activist Arrested, Friends Say

[tabatha]

An Egyptian Facebook activist and leader of the group known as the April 6 Youth has been arrested in Cairo, friends told Wired.com Wednesday in e-mails.

Ahmed Maher, 30, gained prominence in 2008 as one of the co-founders of the April 6 Youth, a solidarity group launched to support protests. Organizing mostly online, especially on Facebook, it is a carefully decentralized network of activists, who have used the tools of social media to broadcast grievances with the Mubarak regime, mobilize support, evade the government’s ubiquitous security forces, and, now, help to bring the Mubarak regime to its knees.

Wired magazine published an article about the group in 2008. Its nascent, tech-fired rebellion helped ignite the revolution and the government backlash that has captured the world’s attention.



http://www.wired.com/dangerroom/2011/02/leading-egyptian-facebook-activist-arrested-friends-say/