Iran | Hijab
'We are in New York': Iran Prez refuses interview with journalist who said no to headscarf
New York: Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi refused veteran journalist Christiane Amanpour an interview after she declined to wear a headscarf, media reports said.
Amanpour, the chief international anchor of CNN who also has a show on US public broadcaster PBS, was set to interview Raisi on Wednesday on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly but an aide to Raisi insisted that she cover her hair, AFP reported.
"I politely declined. We are in New York, where there is no law or tradition regarding headscarves," Amanpour wrote on Twitter.
The journalist, who was born in Britain to an Iranian father, pointed out "that no previous Iranian president has required this when I have interviewed them outside Iran."
"I said that I couldn't agree to this unprecedented and unexpected condition."
She posted an image showing her sitting opposite an empty chair where the Iranian leader would have been.
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
She said an aide to Raisi told her that she was asked to wear a headscarf as a precondition to the interview due to the situation in Iran
Massive protests are taking place across Iran after the death of 22-year-old Mahsa Amini, who was arrested by country's moral police for not wearing her headscarf properly and allegedly died after being tortured in custody.
Oslo-based NGO Iran Human Rights (IHR) said Thursday that as many as 31 people have been killed in the deadly crackdown on anti-hijab protests, in which women are burning their headscarves.
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