William Hoffer

The true story of Betty Mahmoody's escape from Iran with her daughter after her Iranian husband attempted to turn a two-week vacation into a permanent relocation and a life of subservience for Betty and her daughter.

"Patsy Heymans was an innocent teenager when she met Chaim Yarden. The cocky, handsome Israeli soldier immediately swept her off her feet, and almost before she knew it, Heymans was married to him, living in Israel, and the mother of three young children."--BOOK JACKET. "But her life was far from idyllic. Her charismatic husband had a dark side that included a criminal record and a violent temper. Finally, after years of physical and emotional abuse,...

American Betty Mahmoody goes with her daughter and her Iranian-born husband to his native Iran for a vacation. Soon Betty discovers her husband doesn't intend to ever return to America. He will let her go, but her daughter must stay. As a stranger in a foreign police state, Betty has no money, no friends, no rights, and makes a desperate, heroic bid to escape with her child.

This film is based on a true story. William Hayes, a naive young American vacationing with his girlfriend in Istanbul, Turkey, tries to smuggle a couple of kilos of hash out of the country. He is caught, thrown into a Turkish prison, and subsequently raped, tortured, and forced into the brutality that defines the inmates' constant struggle for survival. There are other foreigners there, many for smuggling, and word is that the only way out of the...