UC Berkeley graduate journalism student James Karl Buck (29) was arrested on April 10 without any charges — from Mahalla El-Kobra, an industrial city in the Nile Delta of Egypt. His crime: he was photographing a noisy demonstration. To save himself and get out of jail, the student used e-age technology-aided journalism. He used Twitter!

Twitter is a social networking and micro-blogging site that allows users to let the world know “what they are doing” and post updates. An update is limited by 140 characters and can be posted through three methods: Web form, text message or instant message. Buck SMSed a single word on his cellular phone — “ARRESTED,” to 48 people comprising his friends in the US and leftist Egypt-based bloggers who happen to be the subject of his graduate journalism project. This ‘Twittered’ SOS proved amazingly useful: the people read it and contacted UC Berkley, the US Embassy, and many press organizations about the arrest. The next day, Buck Twittered another message, “Alive and ok. Still in jail,” which resulted in his immediate release from jail. Buck walked out a free man with an Egyptian attorney hired by UC Berkeley at his side and the US Embassy on the phone.

But Mohammed Salah Ahmed Maree (23), a veterinary medicine student and Buck’s friend and interpreter, wasn’t as lucky and was detained in prison. To protest his friend’s predicament, Buck went on a hunger strike demanding the Egyptian Police release Salah as well. He said a lot of other Egyptian journalists are being detained and a lot of Egyptian bloggers are in jail, many being held without charges.