Her name is Lori Foroozandeh, and this is her true story.
Lori lived her young years as a victim of abuse. As she grew older she fell into a classic pattern of self-destructiveness. But by the time she was twenty-seven, she was doing her utmost to create a sane life.
Mohammad Foroozandeh seemed like a man she could trust, a man who would care for her and respect her. Though she knew he engaged in drug use, she ignored the warning signs and married him. Two years later, he asked her to move to Iran, promising that she could pursue her career, assuring her that the country was quite modern. For four years, Lori adjusted as best she could to the oppressive customs of the land, but as her husband grew more demanding of her, he also became more violent.
After the World Trade Center bombings, Mohammad told her they must leave Iran. He purchased bus tickets that he said would take them out of the country and eventually to America. But before they could escape, armed guards attacked and kidnapped her. Lori was blindfolded and taken to a paramilitary POW camp somewhere in the hills.
Then the nightmare began…. six weeks of horrific beatings, raping, torture, and starvation.
Lori Foroozandeh was rescued with one of her fellow inmates by the girl’s family. Emaciated and suffering from the many injuries she’d received at the hands of her torturers, she arrived at the Iran Immigration center with only one thought on her mind—to return home to her family in the USA. Even so, she had to fight Iranian bureaucracy to have permission to go, as the husband was unavailable to grant it. He too had disappeared.