In a series of tweets, CNN’s chief international anchor said she was scheduled to meet with Raisi on the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly and planned to ask him about various issues, including the outbreak of protests in Iran following his death in custody Mahsa Amini, 22, who was arrested and beaten by the “morality police” for violating headscarf laws. “This would be President Raisi’s first interview on American soil, during his visit to New York for the UNGA. After weeks of planning and eight hours of setting up translation equipment, lights and cameras, we were ready. But no sign of President Raisi,” Amanpour tweeted on Thursday. Forty minutes after the scheduled start of the interview, an aide approached Amanpour and told her that Raisi “suggested [she] wear a headscarf, because it is the holy months of Muharram and Safar,” he wrote. Amanpour said she declined the request, explaining that “we are in New York, where there is no law or tradition regarding headscarves.” He added that no other Iranian president has required them to wear a headscarf when interviewed outside Iran. Christiane Amanpour: “We are in New York, where there is no law or tradition regarding headscarves.” Photo: Graeme Robertson/The Guardian “The assistant made it clear that the interview would not take place if I did not wear a headscarf. He said it was a ‘matter of respect’ and referred to the ‘situation in Iran’ – referring to the protests sweeping the country,” Amanpour said. “Again, I said I could not agree to this unprecedented and unexpected condition.” As a result, Amanpour and her team were removed and the interview did not take place. A photo Amanpour posted at the end of her tweets showed her wearing a white suit while sitting on an empty chair as she waited for the Iranian president, her hair uncovered. And so we left. The interview did not take place. As protests continue in Iran and people are killed, it would be an important time to speak with President Raisi. 7/7 pic.twitter.com/kMFyQY99Zh — Christiane Amanpour (@amanpour) September 22, 2022 The British-Iranian journalist’s refusal to wear a headscarf was met with widespread praise online. “Good for @amanpour. The days of Iranian officials requiring female reporters and officials to wear the hijab for interviews and meetings should be over. Forced hejab reflects an outdated and intolerant ideology, not a culture,” tweeted Karim Sadjadpour, an Iranian-American policy analyst at the Carnegie Endowment, a DC-based think tank. NPR radio host Esther Ciammachilli retweeted Amanpour’s photo, writing, “What do they mean when they say, ‘A picture is worth a thousand words.’ Christiane Amanpour’s integrity is fully intact.” Bahman Kalbasi, the New York correspondent and UN correspondent for the BBC’s Persian service, echoed similar sentiments, tweeting: “Raisi not appearing on CNN interview after Christiane Amanpour refuses to wear regime Hijab. The President of the Iranian regime seems to think that he can impose the Hijab in New York as well. #MahsaAmini.” Raisi was repeatedly asked about Amini’s death during a briefing with reporters on Thursday morning, which Iranian officials initially tried to narrow down to the topic of Iran’s nuclear deal negotiations with the West. Raisi repeated official claims that Amini died of a heart attack or stroke while in custody and said similar deaths in custody had occurred in the US and UK. At least three women who attended the briefing were not wearing headscarves. At least 31 people have died in six days of protests since Amini’s death. Iranian women have taken to the streets and online to burn their headscarves and cut their hair. “A law that violates human dignity is not a normal law,” said one female protester.
