Lagatar24 Desk
New Delhi, Sept 23: Veteran journalist Christiane Amanpour said on Thursday that she was unable to conduct an interview with Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi because he requested she wear a headscarf, the subject of significant unrest in the cleric-run nation.
Amanpour, CNN’s chief international anchor who also hosts a programme on PBS, claimed she was prepared for the interview when she was told to cover her hair by a staff member on Wednesday.
“I politely declined. We are in New York, where there is no law or tradition regarding headscarves,” Amanpour wrote on Twitter.
And so we walked away. The interview didn’t happen. As protests continue in Iran and people are being killed, it would have been an important moment to speak with President Raisi. 7/7 pic.twitter.com/kMFyQY99Zh
— Christiane Amanpour (@amanpour) September 22, 2022
“I pointed out that no previous Iranian president has required this when I have interviewed them outside Iran,” she said.
The aide made it clear that the interview would not happen if I did not wear a headscarf. He said it was “a matter of respect,” and referred to “the situation in Iran” – alluding to the protests sweeping the country. 5/7
— Christiane Amanpour (@amanpour) September 22, 2022
She shared a photo of herself seated in front of an empty chair where Raisi would have been, wearing no headscarf.
Amanpour ‘politely denied’ the president’s request to wear a headscarf owing to the ongoing holy months of Muharram and Sagar when Raisi’s aide approached her less than an hour after the scheduled start time of the interview.
She stated that Raisi’s assistant indicated the interview would not take place if the requirement was not met since it was “a matter of respect” and made reference to “the situation in Iran,” alluding to the recent demonstrations over a lady who died after being arrested by the morality police.
40 minutes after the interview had been due to start, an aide came over. The president, he said, was suggesting I wear a headscarf, because it’s the holy months of Muharram and Safar. 3/7
— Christiane Amanpour (@amanpour) September 22, 2022
Amanpour was informed by a Raisi staff that the hardline cleric insisted on wearing a hijab due to “the situation in Iran.”
Since the murder of Mahsa Amini (22) who passed away after being imprisoned by the morality police who uphold the clerics’ instructions on how women should wear, Iran has had nearly a week of protests.
According to a non-governmental organisation, the crackdown on the protests, where women have been seen burning headscarves, has resulted in the deaths of at least 31 Iranian people.
