Betty Mahmoody

| birth_place = Alma, Michigan, U.S. | occupation = Author, public speaker | known = Author of ''Not Without My Daughter'' | spouse = | children = Joseph, John, and Mahtob }} Betty Mahmoody (née Lover; born June 9, 1945) is an American author and public speaker. In 1984, during a visit to Iran with her husband and daughter, he refused to let them return to the United States, holding them captive in Iran and subjecting them to constant abuse until she escaped with her daughter to Turkey in 1986. After she and her daughter returned to the US, she garnered media attention in 1987 when she published ''Not Without My Daughter'', a memoir recounting her captivity in Iran. MGM-Pathé Communications adapted her memoir into a film in 1991.

Since publicizing her account, she has gone on to work as an advocate and activist for children's rights. She is the president and co-founder of One World: For Children, an organization that promotes understanding between cultures and strives to offer security and protection to children of bi-cultural marriages. Provided by Wikipedia