Blogger active in protests learned media skills at NU

Mahmoud Salem, 29, is a 2004 graduate of Northeastern University. In his five years in Boston, the native Egyptian earned an undergraduate and two graduate degrees in business. All the while, he was getting a firsthand education in the then-emerging genre of social networking, running in a circle of friends that included a roommate of Napster founder Shawn Fanning, who launched the music sharing service while enrolled at Northeastern.

Salem’s tweets and one recent blog posting have provided the world with an uncensored glimpse into a nation in turmoil.

He says he has been shot at, threatened, beaten, and arrested while taking part in the protests that have captured worldwide attention.

“On Tuesday, I got tear-gassed and beaten with batons. My friend got shot with rubber bullets. On Friday, I got extremely tear-gassed and was shot at with live ammunition,’’ he said. “When the police disappeared, the nonuniformed thugs with guns appeared out of nowhere.’’

On Thursday, a mob descended on Salem’s car as he and a group of friends tried to bring medical supplies to wounded demonstrators. A female passenger was beaten with a tire iron. One man came through the crowd with a rope, calling for Salem and his companions to be hanged.

“We parked next to police officers and begged for them to help us. They took our phones and keys to the car and incited the crowd to attack us,’’ Salem said. “It was like a zombie movie attack scene, where you’re in a car and hundreds of zombies come toward you.’’

A State Security Service police van eventually pulled up and arrested Salem and his group.

Friends and supporters, including local lawyers, helped get him released; otherwise, he fears he would be sitting in a cell, or worse.

Salem escaped the ordeal with cuts and bruises. One friend lost a few teeth when he was hit in the face with a rock. Salem’s car was destroyed.

Salem insists that he is neither a journalist nor a leader of the protesters.

“I’m just a dude who writes, honestly. I had no place in organizing this,’’ Salem said. “This protest has been all about the absence of leadership. Five million individuals calling for demands that are not ideological — they are very simple. . . . It’s like any democratic movement.’’

Salem, who works in business development for an Internet and telecommunications company, said government agents have tried to convince people that the protests are a conspiracy created by foreign powers including the United States, Israel, Iraq, Hamas, Hezbollah, and Syria.

He repeated what many of the protesters have said since the uprising began on Jan. 25: The uprising is not rooted in religion or ideology — it is a struggle for basic human rights.

Yet in spite of all he has experienced, Salem laughed readily and fondly recalled his time in Boston.

He wanted to know if the right-field grandstand seats at Fenway were still terribly small and if a bar, Our House East, was still on Gainsborough Street.

Salem said he lived the typical college experience during his time in Boston, dating and enjoying beers with friends.

“I saw the Pats win their first Super Bowl,’’ he said. “I’m a Pats fan. They were my first football team and they have a special place in my heart.’’

The conversation returned to a serious tone when Salem discussed whether he is afraid, even in his own home, of reprisal from the government.

“In America you have the saying: Two things in life are certain — death and taxes. Well here, we have death, taxes, and State Security. If they want to get me, they’re going to get me. If they want to kidnap me, they’re going to kidnap me,’’ he said. “I find it stupid to worry about things that I have no control over. Any day you could die. You’re not going to stop living because you might die.’’

John Guilfoil can be reached at jguilfoil@globe.com.