Senior US journalist Christiane Amanpour said that she was ready to interview Iranian President Ibrahim Raisi on Wednesday on the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) when an assistant to the President asked He insisted that she cover her hair.
Senior journalist Christiane Amanpour said on Thursday that the interview with Iranian President Ibrahim Raisi was canceled because he was being insisted on wearing a hijab. There is a big ruckus in Iran these days regarding the hijab. Amanpour is the senior anchor for international affairs at CNN who also has a show on the US state broadcaster PBS. She said she was preparing for an interview on the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly on Wednesday when an aide to Iran’s president insisted on covering her hair.
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
Amanpour said on Twitter, “I politely declined. We are in New York, where there is no such law or rule regarding the hijab.” Amanpour was born in the UK and her father was an Iranian.
At the same time, he said, “I also mentioned that no former Iranian president had asked him to wear a hijab during the interview, when I interviewed him outside Iran.”
Again, I said that I couldn’t agree to this unprecedented and unexpected condition. 6/7
— Christiane Amanpour (@amanpour) September 22, 2022
“I said that I cannot accept this unprecedented and unexpected situation,” she says.
She posted a picture of herself without covering her head, in which she is sitting in front of the empty chair where Raisi used to sit.
He said Raisi’s assistant, a fundamentalist Islamist cleric, said he was pushing for a head covering “in view of the situation in Iran”.
The hijab controversy in Iran has gained momentum after the custodial death of 22-year-old woman Mahsa Amini due to hijab in Iran. Security forces have taken violent action against the demonstrations against the ban on the hijab in Iran.
An NGO says that at least 31 civilians have been killed by Iranian security forces in this case. These protests erupted after the custodial death of Mahsa Amini. Amini was detained by the Moral Police for not wearing a hijab, after which she died.
Women are furious after Amini’s death. Even to register their protest, women are burning the hijab and some women are even cutting their long hair.