Bozorg Mahmoody, Iranian father of "Not Without My Daughter" fame, 70

[La N]

http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5jymCRQ8j09_RJaDJlRAneCCQ1TiQ

'Not Without My Daughter' Iranian father dies
(AFP) - 10 hours ago

TEHRAN - Iranian Bozorg Mahmoody, whose American ex-wife portrayed him as
abusive in a controversial best-seller after escaping Iran with their
daughter, died Saturday, official IRNA news agency reported.

Mahmoody, a US-educated doctor, "died in a Tehran hospital this morning
because of kidney problems and other complications," his nephew Majid Ghodsi
told IRNA. He was 70.

His ex-wife Betty Mahmoody portrayed him as abusive and domineering in the
controversial best-seller "Not Without My Daughter" which she penned after
fleeing Iran with the couple's daughter Mahtob in 1984.

"He thought of his daughter till the end and passed away without seeing
Mahtob," Ghodsi told IRNA.

The book and its 1991 movie adaptation, starring Sally Field as Betty and
Alfred Molina as Mahmoody, was met with angry reaction from Iranians
offended by what they considered a "biased" depiction of their culture.

Betty Mahmoody claimed in her book that her husband brought the family to
Iran on a short visit but later forced them to stay and prevented her from
leaving for the United States with their daughter.

Under Iran's sharia-based law, the father is considered the main guardian of
the child and married Iranian women need their husband's consent to apply
for a passport.

Iran and the United States cut diplomatic ties after the 1979 Islamic
revolution and the seizure of US embassy in Tehran.

[Matthew Kruk]

Bozorg Mahmoody ... not as catchy as KOWABUNGA DUDE!!!!!!!

[Lenona]

This would certainly suggest that Mahtob, now 30, is glad about that:

http://www2.starexponent.com/cse/lifestyles/culpeper_news/article/not_afraid_of_change/23784/

Trouble is, might her father's relatives still be trying to stalk her?
(In some cultures, when the father dies, his relatives have the legal
right to seize custody from the mother, as in the horrific "Do they
Hear You When You Cry," which is by Fauziya Kassindja, of Togo. She is
now married with triplet sons and is presumably safe from HER
relatives so long as she stays out of Africa - she loved her good
father immensely, but his relatives were another story. Granted,
Mahtob is an adult, but you never know.)

Lenona.