The chief’s first-ever interview on US soil was canceled after he allegedly insisted {that a} feminine reporter don a head scarf
CNN’s Christiane Amanpour has canceled an interview with Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi, claiming he demanded she put on a head protecting consistent with Islamic customized and that she “politely declined.” The incident comes amid outrage and protests in Iran over a younger girl’s loss of life in police custody after she was arrested over “inappropriate” headwear.
Amanpour took to Twitter on Thursday morning to debate the ill-fated interview, which might have been Raisi’s first on American soil. She mentioned the president was initially late for the engagement, and that 40 minutes after it was set to start, an aide approached her to counsel she put on a hijab through the sit-down “as a result of it’s the holy months of Muharram and Safar.”
“I politely declined. We’re in New York, the place there is no such thing as a regulation or custom concerning headscarves,” Amanpour wrote, including “I identified that no earlier Iranian president has required this when I’ve interviewed them exterior Iran.”
The CNN anchor went on to assert that the aide “made it clear that the interview wouldn’t occur if I didn’t put on a scarf,” saying it was a “matter of respect” given the present “scenario in Iran” – apparently referring to latest protests over the loss of life of 22-year-old Mahsa Amini, who was detained in Tehran for carrying an “improper” hijab earlier than her mysterious loss of life in custody.
Amanpour mentioned she had deliberate to ask Raisi in regards to the girl’s loss of life and the heated demonstrations that adopted, however insisted she “couldn’t conform to this unprecedented and sudden situation” concerning the top protecting, and subsequently “walked away.”
Raisi’s workplace has but to touch upon the incident or verify Amanpour’s model of occasions.
Although the hijab – a scarf continuously worn by Muslim girls which is available in quite a lot of completely different shapes and kinds – has been obligatory in Iran for the reason that nation’s 1979 Islamic Revolution, Amanpour mentioned she has interviewed each Iranian president since 1995 and has by no means been requested to put on a head protecting exterior of Iran itself. She has donned a hijab for some interviews abroad previously, nevertheless, akin to a sit-down with Afghan Inside Minister Sirajuddin Haqqani in Kabul earlier this yr, the place she wore a loose-fitting scarf.
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