Screaming Mary makes headlines, but it's her husband we should be talking about

Screaming Mary makes headlines, but it's her husband we should be talking about

From Break Free Media by Karen Hunt aka KH Mezek

April 12, 2026 · 1 min

About this episode

The episode discusses the media focus on Masoumeh Ebtekar, known as 'Screaming Mary', while highlighting the lesser-known story of her husband, Seyyed Mohammad Hashemi, amidst the controversy surrounding their son Eissa's deportation.

You can listen to me read this essay here: Why isn’t anyone talking about the husband of ‘Screaming Mary’ and the father of soon-to-deported Eissa Hashemi? Masoumeh Ebtekar, known as “Screaming Mary” is in the news as her son, Eissa Hashemi has been arrested and faces deportation from the United States. That makes for great news headlines. But I’m far more interested in her husband, Seyyed Mohammad Hashemi. One has to search hard to find information about him. I did that search and I will tell you who he is, but first, a little reminder about “Screaming Mary” and some questions about her son. In the video above (if you can stand her jarring ‘screaming’ voice), Masoumeh Ebtekar, defends the irony of her son studying in American when she was the Iran ‘79 hostage-taker spokeswoman ready “to shoot American hostages in the head.” Critics yell: “ You climbed the Embassy wall but sent your kid to the US .” (Ebtekar scoffs) “ My son went there to study just like you. What am I supposed to do?” What, indeed? He only followed in the footsteps of his mother and his grandfather, who both benefited from a top-notch American education before returning to Iran to become involved in Khomeini’s…

People in this episode

Host: Karen Hunt aka KH Mezek

Topics covered

  • deportation
  • family dynamics
  • Iranian history
  • media coverage
  • cultural irony

Keywords

  • Screaming Mary
  • Eissa Hashemi
  • Seyyed Mohammad Hashemi
  • deportation
  • Iran hostage crisis
  • media analysis
  • cultural commentary

More episodes of Break Free Media

Explore listener stats, chart rankings, contacts and more on the Break Free Media podcast page.