The account of a Canadian-Egyptian journalist who was jailed in Egypt for the crime of being a journalist during a time of political upheaval. As Al Jazeera’s Cairo bureau chief, Fahmy commits the unpardonable sin of reporting facts. For his troubles, he is denounced as a Muslim Brotherhood terrorist and abandoned by both the network for which he works and the Canadian government (which always seems happy to let innocent citizens rot in foreign lockups). Fahmy gives us an absorbing account of life behind bars with other political prisoners, and Shaben is incapable of non-brilliant true-story telling. A memorable book and a reminder of the risks that face honest journalists in a lot of countries. Reviewed on June 3, 2021