The film was also criticized in Iran. A 2002 Islamic Republic News Agency article claimed that the film " smears...against Iran" and "stereotyped Iranians as cruel characters and wife-beaters". In a Finnish documentary, "Without My Daughter", film maker Alexis Kouros tells Mahmoody's husband's side of the story, showing Iranian eyewitnesses accusing the Hollywood film of spreading lies and "treasons". Alice Sharif, an American woman living with her Iranian husband in Tehran, accuses Mahmoody and the filmmakers of deliberately attempting to foment anti-Iranian sentiment in the United States.