A correspondent for Al Jazeera’s English-language network said Monday that he was cuffed, blindfolded and held for hours by Egyptian military police near Tahrir Square the previous day.

Ayman Mohyeldin, a U.S. citizen, told the network he was detained on his way to the square, which has been the center of anti-government protests in Cairo. He said he was taken to a separate holding area, where at least two other journalists were being held along with numerous protesters.

He said the protesters appeared to have been stopped because they lacked identification documents or had behaved in a way that the military found objectionable.

“A lot of these people were beaten up,” he said. “The military was dealing with them in a very aggressive manner. They were slapped, they were kicked … Many of them were crying.”

Mohyeldin said he was questioned repeatedly before he was released.

Dozens of journalists have been detained while covering the unrest, though most have been released within 24 hours. Government officials say authorities have been instructed to allow journalists to do their work.

-- Alexandra Zavis

Al Jazeera English reports that a detained Google Inc. executive has been released.

A brother of Wael Ghonim, Google's head of marketing for the Middle East and North Africa, told the network he was freed Monday and was on his way to Tahrir Square, the center of anti-government protests in Cairo.

[Updated at 10:56 a.m.: Times correspondent Ned Parker reports from Cairo that 
Hazim Ghonim told reporters at Tahrir Square that his brother is "fine" and "safe" at an undisclosed location. In his first tweet after he was released, Wael Ghonim said: "Freedom is a bless that deserves fighting for it."]

Ghonim had traveled to Egypt from his home in Dubai and was believed to have been arrested Jan. 27 after joining in the protests, according to Amnesty International. 

Before his arrest, Ghonim announced on his Twitter feed that he had been "brutally beaten up by police people." Not long before he disappeared, he wrote: "Very worried as it seems that government is planning a war crime tomorrow against people. We are all ready to die."

Ghonim's disappearance prompted widespread international outrage. The release of prisoners has been a key demand of opposition representatives who met over the weekend with newly appointed Vice President Omar Suleiman.

-- Alexandra Zavis

Photo: Wael Ghoneim is shown in an undated photo provided by Google Inc. Credit: AP Photo/Google Inc.

Police barracks in Rafah, the town in North Sinai that borders the Gaza strip, came under attack early Monday when a group of unknown perpetrators fired rocket-propelled grenades at the building, Egyptian media reported.

According to Agence France-Presse, at  least one Egyptian police officer was injured. Meanwhile, a reporter in North Sinai for Egyptian state-run TV named the victim as Muhammad Ahmad Mahmud, 21, but didn't mention his profession. 

The attackers were deterred by tribesmen in the area who identified them as members of "extremist religious groups and foreign elements from the other side of the border," added the reporter, speaking on Egypt's Channel 1.

Sinai Bedouins' testy relations with Egyptian authorities have been heightened by days of nationwide political unrest. 

A Google Inc. executive who disappeared after participating in anti-government protests will be released Monday, according to Egyptian television reports.

Wael Ghonim, Google's head of marketing for the Middle East and North Africa, has been missing since Jan. 27. PC Magazine reported that he was believed to be in the custody of the Egyptian government.

On Sunday, state-run Nile TV reported that Prime Minister Ahmed Shafiq had called the network to announce his planned release.

Egyptian businessman Naguib Sawiris told another channel, which he owns, that he had been assured by Vice President Omar Suleiman that Goneim would be freed 4 p.m. Monday. Sawiris is part of a self-appointed group of leading Egyptians who have met with the government to explore ways to end the political impasse.

Since his disappearance, Ghonim has become a rallying figure for anti-government protesters. The April 6 youth opposition movement named him its symbolic spokesman.

Despite warnings from friends and family, Ghonim tweeted that he was attending a Jan. 25 demonstration, organized in part by members of the April 6 movement.

"Pray for #Egypt. Very worried as it seems that government is planning a war crime tomorrow against people. We are all ready to die #Jan25," Ghonim wrote in one of his last tweets.

It was not clear Sunday where he was being held.

— Alexandra Zavis

Photos: Two images of Wael Ghonim taken from his Facebook page. Credit: Facebook

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Two Radio Free Europe journalists were released after three days in police custody and left the country Sunday, the broadcaster said.

Robert Tait and Abdelilah Nuaimi, both British citizens, were detained shortly after arriving Friday in the Egyptian capital, Cairo, RFE said in a statement. 

Both are "safe and relatively well" and are now on their way to Prague, the statement said. They were among dozens of journalists detained or attacked by pro-government mobs last week.

Tait was quoted as saying that "whatever official statements you might hear about the situation of detained journalists, we were not treated well."

RFE said communication with the two had been difficult because police confiscated some of their equipment, including phones and cameras. The broadcaster said it would provide more details about their detention after they arrive in Prague.

Tait is a senior RFE correspondent covering the Middle East. Nuaimi is a reporter with RFE's Iraq service.

Despite government assurances that journalists were free to do their work, RFE said another Cairo-based correspondent was held and questioned for over two hours at a police check point Sunday while traveling to the airport to meet with Tait and Nuaimi.

A correspondent for Al Jazeera’s English-language network was also detained Sunday. Ayman Mohyeldin was arrested by the military near Tahrir Square and held for seven hours, the network said.

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— Alexandra Zavis

As demands for change spread across the Middle East, authorities in Bahrain are taking steps to prevent activists from using the Internet to encourage dissent, a human rights organization said Sunday.

The Bahrain Center for Human Rights accused the government of blocking access to a Facebook group calling for protests inspired by uprisings in Egypt and Tunisia. The center's own website has been blocked for years, it said. Several prominent bloggers have also been arrested.

Opposition activists in the small Persian Gulf island nation have been calling for a “day of rage” Feb. 14 against the ruling royal family. Bahraini authorities have taken economic measures to try to stave off the mounting anger, raising food subsidies.

— Alexandra Zavis in Los Angeles and Borzou Daragahi in Beirut

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Egyptian Prime Minister Ahmed Shafiq told CNN on Sunday that authorities had been instructed “not to bother” human-rights activists and journalists covering anti-government protests.

Any such problems are “not intended at all,” Shafiq told CNN's Candy Crowley on “State of the Union.”
His comments came amid reports of fresh arrests Sunday, including a correspondent for Al Jazeera English.

News network Al Jazeera said the journalist, Ayman Mohyeldin, was detained by the Egyptian military near Tahrir Square and called for his immediate release.

“I will go directly to check this point,” Shafiq told Crowley.  “But they are not allowed at all to do something like that.”

— Alexandra Zavis

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Al Jazeera says a correspondent for its English-language network was detained by the Egyptian military Sunday.

The Qatar-based news network called for the immediate release of Ayman Mohyeldin, an Emmy-nominated journalist who it said was detained near Tahrir Square, the center of anti-government protests.

[Updated at 3:23PST: Mohyeldin was released seven hours later, the network said.]

Journalists have been repeatedly targeted while covering the unrest. Dozens have been detained or attacked by pro-government mobs in recent days.

On Friday, Al Jazeera said one of its Cairo offices was set on fire and two of its employees were arrested. The previous week, it said its journalists had their press credentials revoked and nine were detained. Satellite providers across the region have also blocked the network's signal.

Government officials have blamed foreigners and the opposition Muslim Brotherhood for the unrest. But they said that there is no policy to target foreign media and that violence against journalists is unacceptable.

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— Alexandra Zavis

Photo: Ayman Mohyeldin. Credit: Al Jazeera International

Nobel Peace laureate Mohamed ElBaradei said Sunday that he will not negotiate with the Egyptian government until President Hosni Mubarak steps down.

"The whole idea was to move that regime to a new regime," ElBaradei said on CNN's "Fareed Zakaria GPS." "Mubarak continues to be a symbol of that old regime, and I will not give any legitimacy to that existing regime."

ElBaradei's comments came as Egyptian Vice President Omar Suleiman met in Cairo with some opposition figures, including members of the banned Muslim Brotherhood and a representative of ElBaradei's National Assn. for Change. Mubarak has said that he plans to remain in office until elections in September but that he will not run again.

ElBaradei, the former director of the International Atomic Energy Agency who has emerged as a figurehead for the country's fractured opposition, said the transition process should not be managed solely by the outgoing regime.

"There has to be heavy engagement by the people, by the civilians," he said. "So we are not in the greatest situation right now.  It's a very opaque situation, and it's a very tense situation."

He proposed the creation of a transitional presidential council that would prepare the country for free and fair elections. That council could include Suleiman or an army representative, as well as a civilian representative, he said.

ElBaradei said any elections before "the right people establish parties and engage" would be "fake democracy."

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-- Alexandra Zavis

Photo: Mohamed ElBaradei on CNN's "Fareed Zakaria GPS." Credit: CNN

The suspension of Egyptian gas supply to Israel has lighted a fire under the feet of Israeli officials, businessmen and shareholders trying to assess how events in Egypt will affect Israel's energy economy.

Initial assessments that it is in Egypt's interests to keep the lucrative gas deals with Israel may prove right when the dust settles. But the shake-up in Egypt is a wake-up call for Israel, too.

Minister of National Infrastructures Uzi Landau urged hastened development of the Tamar gas field Sunday. Meanwhile, Israel can increase quantities from its southern reserve and may have to compensate for the loss of Egyptian gas by using more coal and oil-based fuels to produce electricity.

Israel was hoping to move away from such dirtier energy sources for various reasons, including a pledge to reduce greenhouse emissions. Recently the government approved a national plan to develop technologies to reduce global use of oil in transportation. Global dependence on oil and the countries that produce it is bad for both the environment and economic stability, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said.

But industries and economies still rely on fossil fuels. Increasing costs and depleting reserves are driving new technologies that, well, scrape the bottom of the barrel to produce energy.

And surprise (OK, maybe not to geologists) -- Israel is sitting on a potential fortune.

Long lines formed Sunday outside Cairo banks, some of which opened for the first time in a week, news reports said.

Armored personnel carriers stood guard at sandbagged intersections as buses dropped employees off at large state banks, the Reuters news agency reported.

Bankers had expected foreign investors and local business executives to flee the Egyptian pound as political protests continued. But the currency closed at 5.93 to the dollar, down about 1.3% since it was last traded on Jan. 27, Reuters said.

The Egyptian stock exchange remained closed Sunday. Officials said Saturday that they would announce the reopening date 48 hours beforehand.

-- Alexandra Zavis

Photo: People stand in the line to make withdrawals outside Cairo Bank in downtown Cairo February 6, 2011. Credit: Amr Abdallah Dalsh / Reuters.

Egypt's Vice President Omar Suleiman agreed at a meeting with opposition figures Sunday to set up a national committee to consider constitutional reforms, according to a statement read on state-run television.

The statement also said the government would take steps to ensure press freedom, release jailed activists and lift the country’s emergency laws when security conditions permit.

But there was no mention in the statement that President Hosni Mubarak would step down before new elections are held in September, a key demand of anti-government protesters.

Two of the groups represented at the meeting said the concessions announced Sunday were only a first step, the Associated Press reported.

“People still want the president to step down,” said Mostafa al-Naggar, a supporter of Nobel laureate Mohamed ElBaradei.

“The protest continues because there are no guarantees and not all demands have been met,” Al-Naggar was quoted as saying by the Associated Press. “We did not sign on to the statement. This is a beginning of a dialogue. We approve the positive things in the statement but ... we are still demanding that the president step down.”

The outlawed Muslim Brotherhood, the country's largest opposition group, said they too support a continuation of the protests in Cairo’s Tahrir Square.

“The people want the president and his regime to step down immediately,” Mohammed Morsey, a spokesman for the group, was quoted as saying by Bloomberg News. “We’re in the field, and we’re in the dialogue. There’s no contradiction.”

-- Alexandra Zavis

Photo: Newly appointed Egyptian Vice President Omar Suleiman, center, meets with youth representatives in Cairo on Sunday. Credit: Seliman El Oteifi / EPA