Betty Mahmoody
In August of 1984, Michigan housewife Betty Mahmoody went to Iran with her husband and four-year-old daughter Mahtob, on a two-week trip to visit his family in Teheran. However, once the two weeks were over, he refused to allow them to leave. Betty Mahmoody and her daughter became virtual prisoners of a man who had rededicated himself to the Shiite Moslem faith. Thus began an 18-month tour of terror in which Mahmoody lived in fear of her husband and secretly plotted her escape to freedom.
Trapped in an openly hostile and alien culture, Betty Mahmoody had the odds stacked against her - first as a woman in a land where women have no rights, and second as an American at a time when Americans were despised. Her story and daring 500-mile escape across the mountains on horseback and on foot into Turkey are chronicled in her Pulitzer Prize nominated, best selling book, Not Without My Daughter. It is a compelling adventure and gripping account of an ordinary woman's extraordinary courage.
"From the first day that he told me I couldn't come back, I considered myself a hostage," Betty writes. Mahmoody's husband separated her from her daughter for weeks on end. He beat her and threatened to kill her if she left the house or tried to call for help. One afternoon, Betty Mahmoody managed to slip away from the house unnoticed and went to the embassy for help. "When I told them my situation they said that from the moment I married an Iranian, I became a citizen under Iranian law. There was nothing they could do for me."
Several people sympathized with Betty's situation and offered advice. One person told Betty that an escape would be much easier if she left her daughter in Iran. Mahmoody never considered the option. She would not leave without Mahtob. Months went by and Betty Mahmoody watched her daughter grow more despondent and her husband's mood swings more severe. She continued to search desperately for a way out. Finally, someone agreed to help.
The escape route was risky and treacherous. Betty and Mahtob were driven at night from Teheran to the desolate mountains in the north. Once there, they hid out in a farmer's barn waiting for the most terrifying part of their escape. They now had to cross the ice and snow-covered mountains that border Iran and Turkey. "We had to walk up some of the mountains because they were too steep for the horses," Mahmoody explains. "And I was so exhausted. When we started to go up the last mountains my legs just gave out. I was paralyzed from the waist down." The guides dragged Betty and carried Mahtob the final yards to their freedom.
Betty Mahmoody's story of fortitude during her two years in Iran is awe-inspiring. Betty and her daughter are happy now, although Mahtob still suffers some effects from the terrifying ordeal. They live in the U.S. under assumed names as Betty's husband still threatens to get Mahtob back. However, Betty is no longer afraid of him. "We have so much freedom. I want people to read this story and appreciate their freedom. When they see the American flag or the Statue of Liberty, I want those things to mean to everyone what they now mean to me."
Since returning from Iran in 1986, Betty Mahmoody has devoted her life to helping hundreds of others in similar situations. She is the President and co-founder of ONE WORLD: FOR CHILDREN, an organization designed to promote understanding between cultures and to offer security and protection to children of bi-cultural marriages. She was also the chief investigator for legislation passed in Michigan relating to international kidnaping. As an expert in the field of international kidnaping, Mahmoody acts as an ongoing consultant to the State Department on the subject.
In 1990, Betty Mahmoody was honored as Outstanding Woman of the Year by Oakland University and as the Most Courageous Woman of the Year and Woman of the Year in Germany. She also received an honorary degree from her Michigan alma mater, Alma College.
Mahmoody's story is one of hope, courage, resourcefulness and action. She lectures around the country and has appeared on numerous television talk shows - including 20/20 with Barbara Walters, Larry King, Donahue, Oprah Winfrey, and Sally Jesse Raphael, among countless other national and international radio shows. Her story, Not Without My Daughter, has been adapted to a recently released feature film starring Academy Award winning actress, Sally Field.