Without My Daughter (Part 4 of 6)

The the real Mahmoody behind the backwards like and violent Mahmoody character in the 90's movie "Not Without My Daughter". He is still in search of his beloved daughter, Mahtob Mahmoody.
Sayed Mahmoody (70) is a medical doctor who trained in the UK and the USA. He lived and worked in America for more than twenty years where he established a successful practice as an anaesthetist and consultant in Osteopathic Manipulative Therapy (OMT). OMT is a holistic treatment that deals with the patient as a whole being. OMT practitioners use their hands to apply pressure on muscles, nerves and joints â to relieve pain, stiffness and tension in the whole body.
He is an aristocratic Iranian by birth. Sayedâ s mother and father died by the time he was eight-years-old, and he was raised by his sister. Although a strict Muslim, he is no way fanatical and believes that Islam is a religion of tolerance, enlightenment and peace.
Sayed returned to Iran with his wife, Betty and daughter, Mahtob with the aim of using his medical knowledge to help treat the victims of the Iran-Iraq war. Days after his green-card expired, Betty left Terhan without warning, taking Mahtob with her on a Swissair Flight to the US. She then divorced Sayed in a US court where he had no voice, so gaining control of all the familyâ s assets, including substantial properties and savings. The court case and subsequent publication of his wifeâ s book, Not Without My Daughter, made him persona non grata in the USA.
Sayed has never remarried and continues to work full-time as an OMT practitioner, anaesthetist and university lecturer in Tehran.

[@Juberoos]

I noticed that throughout this entire documentary, not once did he offer any appology or understanding for what the wife and child felt. He never addressed their fears or their concerns about not going back home to the US or about the way they were forced to live. He showed no humility. To me he is more concerned about "setting the matter right" in regards to his repuation than he is in showing concern for his daughter. He never mentions that he is worried she is ok, or safe or happy.

[@Sam581]

It must have been scary for Betty to hear Moodys voice once again..

[@sakurabender]

his daughter actually talked about her own experience in an interview and she said that she didn't want to be found.

[@shasel1104]

Oh please why didn't he just say "Hi Betty" without the introduction this is Dr Mahmoodi. Laughable

[@Anniefulify]

Well there are consequences for everything we do. that was his punishment for being a coward and for hitting his woman! If a man hit me like he did he'd never see me or my daughter. I have no sympathy for him!

[@Swampzoid]

he goes to finland and makes phone calls to meet mahtob only years later when there is a camera shooting. he's the one who's trying to make money off his daughter - not betty.

[@ladystonefox]

This is silly. The man is silly. I bet Mahtob would have given him a chance if he just would have said "Mahtob, I'm really sorry for everything, what I did was wrong, I want to ask for your forgiveness." But no. He never acknowledges what he did was wrong. He never owned up. He believes he had the right to do this. So sad for him, it's pathetic.

[@Turbocane]

Because he beat her mother and hit her. That isn't heartless that is wise. Women are people too.

[@AmbieRob1]

This is the most ridiculous documentuary ever! This is the story of a sad old man who made poor life decisions. If he loved his family he should have stayed with them in American instead of going to a war torn country. What loving parent brings their children into that? Most run away from it. When you traumatize children don't be surprise they don't want you in their life. As far as the "friend" Alice she is just mad her miserible life got exposed. She's just a hater!

[@kamakasi69]

Even though I hadnt gone through an extreme case like in Mahtobs. My mother never said one bad word about my father to me but that doesn't mean my father didnt make the mistakes he made to make our family fall apart. My mother didnt need to brainwash me for me not to want to talk to my father even through the phone. THere isnt much I want to say to him. Mahtob is smart enough to make her own choices and form her own opinions.

[@trishawong85]

if he really misses his daughter that much, he would have just fly (since all along he had his passport!!!!) to America (a place he is so familiar) to look for her and not wait for 15 years after!!!

[@ely1313]

we can do anything we want but we have to live with our decisions because everything has prices and consequences...

[@sandramadison59]

Put yourself in Mahtob's view, I don't think you would call either.

[@faeryquene]

Actually you have it backwards per Mahtob-he held Mahtob and Betty CAPTIVE , two Americans in a foreign country-and he beat Betty-again Per Mahtob. So they ESCAPED their captor, and went back to their country. Deal.

[@anastasiagirl1342]

I know how the poor girl feels i lost lots in my childhood!

[@anastasiagirl1342]

I think that was her on that phone!

[@rara1800]

why didn't she change her number?

[@JayArgonaut]

@theevilpersian lol you'll have to spell it out to them that the United States ended all diplomatic relations with Iran over 30 years ago. Any communication goes through the Swiss embassy, so imagine the situation. Let alone trying to get a Visa to travel from a country which has been consistently denounced from the Reagan era till now as a rogue state and sponsor of terrorism. As you pointed out, obtaining a visa under those circumstances is difficult. Even government members are denied visa's.

[@ChaoticBFly]

I don't buy though that he couldn't see his daughter for all those years. True, a regular iranian can't just get a Visa to the US just like that. But a well established doctor with reputiation easily can. Instead of making this useless video he should've looked for his daughter, not waste time with camera's.

[@faeryquene]

I do feel for the late Dr. Mahmoody to a degree-it's very sad but I agree with you-as you say he brought this all upon himself.

[@glammie4]

And where was his daughter going to get the money to get to Finland, I did not here an offer of money.

[@theevilpersian]

He does not have an American passport. And you cannot enter this country as an Iranian without first obtaining a visa, which is not easy to obtain for Iranains if not simply impossible.

[@sha11235]

If that was Betty, then why didn't she hang up the minute Moody said who he was? I certainly would have. Also, if I was Moody, I'd pack the bunny for Mahtob.

[@coolwater55]

Absolutley!

[@scspud]

@theevilpersian not really, you probably don't know the real account of all that happened either.

[@He805]

This was interesting! I feel sorry for both Mahtob,Betty and Sayed!

[@corrupt200]

I didn't know Sayed was a D.O.

[@TapCityTortilla]

This film is shamelessly manipulative as is the film/book it is responding to. I cannot responsibly make any assumptions about who is telling the truth in the matter, since it is one person's words against another's, but I felt more manipulated by seeing this film, an alleged "fact"-based documentary, than I did the Hollywood film with Sally Field.

[@snowangelnc]

@beverlyhillschic Every American? At least say most. Out of 300 million Americans, there are still some that you have not met. I know this because I am one of them. Otherwise, you would know that I (along with several other nice, non-xenophobics in this country, that do actually exist) do not believe or behave that way.

[@eswinipi]

But nobody tried to talk with mahtob???

[@theevilpersian]

What I find absolutely interesting going through the comments is that 90% of the comments are either Black, or White...accusing the other side of lying...even though 99.9% of the people leaving the comments don't even know the real account of all that happened, and speak solely based on either this film, or Betty's movie/book. Interesting, no?

[@theevilpersian]

I would say the point of it was to show he could not contact her, not to all of a sudden find her number and call her in front of the camera as you like to put it.

[@theevilpersian]

This is a film made by a small independent film group in Finland....I doubt he even made up for the money that he may have had to spent out of pocket, let alone make a profit. Matter of fact, this documentary is so unpopular you will have a tough time finding much information about it on google. What you have to realize is that this may not have been the first time he tried calling, but he did it again to have it on tape.

[@theevilpersian]

Did I at any point claim I did in my comment above? Or did I put myself on either side?

[@theevilpersian]

Yep, made in 2002 by a Finnish group

[@GetinHighOnLife]

i feel bad for him. You can feel a fathers pain.

[@xXfallenangel66Xx]

i feel bad for him, but i don't totally believe his side nor betty's side. It's sad he didn't see his daughter, but hopefully in the next life he will, or if recarnation is real, i believe he'll reunite with her again.

[@GuatemalanDude999]

I think what this man did was wrong but that should not take away the rights to his daughter. She shouldn't have to live in Iran but she should atleast see her father. She needs to learn compassion and forgiveness. But it could be fear that is keeping her from seeing her father rather than raw anger... in that case she has every right NOT to see her father if she fears she is to be taken to a far land and to never see her home again.

[@melijaje06]

Its obvious that Mahtob has been brainwashed by her mother all these years. I mean, it wouldn't hurt to at least answer the phone, it's not like she going to get kidnapped through the phone line.

[@camelia1999]

aklheyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy.teflakiiiiiiiii.khob dige khanoome betty dorughgoo khub ba kharab kardane in adam pool dar avord.labod alanam ke ishun fot karde mire soraghe ers va miras tof be un zate kasifet mahtab

[@certusverna]

Heartbreaking :'( Mahtab,... Why?

[@nancychisanga2]

Mahtob you could have forgiven your dad no matter how he did hurt you people.forgiveness matters in all we do in life,especially that revenge is not for us human beings.anyway you can still forgive him,even though is already gone.

[@theevilpersian]

And how exactly DO you "kidnap" your own family and take them on an overseas flight to a country on the other side of the world? Did he put them in a bag tie them up and take them out there? My question to you: Betty claims she was told she is going to Iran for a "2 week vacation," Would you, with a healthy brain, go to a country IN WAR and unstable after having gone through a revolution for a "2 week vacation?" And could he have forced you to go with him? THINK about it a bit.

[@ve6tica1970]

Mahtob just CAN'T pick up the phone - that would debunk Betty"s story and people might want their money back... Besides it wouldn't be PATRIOTIC, would it?

[@margesplace]

this is soooooo SAD story Mahtoob this was sad why didn't you talk 2 him?

[@TDKiller415]

It's always worth it to hear the side of the story of the antagonist (or at least the one PORTRAYED as the antagonist), no matter how evilly he was depicted (whether or not it was true or false). I see this now, and feel so sorry for the man. Now I'm beginning to have my doubts about the book and the film. I'll bet it was just typical American anti-Iran propaganda.

[@hassan52522]

i know her dad did wrong but in christain and islam it says we should obey are parents and forgive them since they brought us to this world,,,if she want to have gods blessing mahtob she have talked to him so that she can get his blessing in this life and to succeed in life...

[@1likestoplaymusic]

awe. 6:09.....that's so sad. That poor, poor man.