CNN star journalist Amanpour refuses to wear veil to interview Iranian president, no interview

It's a matter of dress code, a subject on which we do not trifle in Iran: at least 17 people died.

CNN star journalist Christiane Amanpour said Thursday that she refused to wear a veil for an interview the day before in New York with ultraconservative Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi.

Consequence: the televised face-to-face was simply canceled.

Born in Great Britain to an Iranian father, the head of CNN's international antenna explains at length on Twitter the reasons for her refusal and the negotiations that took place when it was to be "the very first interview with President Raisi on American soil", came to the United Nations General Assembly in New York.

An adviser to the Iranian Head of State came to find her "40 minutes after the time the interview should have started", to tell her that Ebrahim Raisi "suggested" that she wear a veil, "because this are the holy months of Muharram and Safar”.

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.

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— Christiane Amanpour (@amanpour) September 22, 2022

“I politely declined.

We are in New York, where there is no law or tradition regarding the wearing of headscarves.

I pointed out that no previous Iranian president had demanded it when I interviewed him outside Iran,” the journalist explained.

According to this international figure of CNN, the adviser explained to him that under these conditions the interview would simply not take place.

“So we gave up.

The interview did not take place.

As protests continue in Iran and people are killed, it would have been important to speak with President Raisi,” concluded Christiane Amanpour, who posted a photo of herself in front of an empty chair.

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.

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— Christiane Amanpour (@amanpour) September 22, 2022

Protests have erupted in Iran since authorities announced the death of 22-year-old Mahsa Amini on September 16.

She had been arrested for "wearing inappropriate clothing" by the morality police, responsible for enforcing the strict dress code in the Islamic Republic.

VIDEO.

In Iran, women take off the veil and cut their hair, after the death of Mahsa Amini

Since the establishment of the Islamic Republic 43 years ago, wearing the hijab has been compulsory.

But "while part of society is demanding more freedom and more democracy, the coming to power of a conservative president, a supporter of repression and according to whom defending the Islamic veil is at the heart of the political project, goes to counter to this development”, explained to the Parisian, Thierry Coville, researcher at IRIS and specialist in Iran.