Without My Daughter (Part 5 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.