CNN anchor Christiane Amanpour claimed that she couldn’t interview Iranian president Ebrahim Raisi as his aide insisted that she put on a scarf earlier than Raisi.
Incidentally, the nation is gripped with unrelenting protests over the demise of a younger lady, who was detained and allegedly tortured in custody by Iran’s morality police for sporting “unsuitable attire”. At least 31 civilians dropping their lives for the reason that violent clashes erupted, reported information company AFP.
Amanpour was set to interview Raisi in New York on Thursday, his first on US soil, because the chief was visiting town for the continued United Nations General Assembly session. ” After weeks of planning and eight hours of organising translation gear, lights and cameras, we had been prepared. But no signal of President Raisi,” she stated in a collection of tweets.
Less than hour previous the interview’s scheduled time, Raisi’s aide approached Amanpour with the President’s suggestion that the anchor put on a scarf because of the ongoing holy months of Muharram and Sagar, a request she “politely declined”. Raisi’s aide, she claimed, stated the interview wouldn’t occur if the situation was not fulfilled because it was “a matter of respect,” and referred to “the situation in Iran”, hinting on the ongoing protests over a lady’s demise following her arrest by the morality police.
The aide made it clear that the interview wouldn’t occur if I didn’t put on a scarf. He stated it was “a matter of respect,” and referred to “the situation in Iran” – alluding to the protests sweeping the nation. 5/7
— Christiane Amanpour (@amanpour) September 22, 2022
The interview with Raisi would have come every week after the morality police detained 22-year-old Mahsa Amini, saying she didn’t correctly cowl her hair with the Islamic headband, referred to as the hijab, which is necessary for Iranian girls. Amini collapsed at a police station and died three days later.
Amini’s demise has prompted Iranians to take to the streets of Tehran and different components of the nation. Many Iranians, significantly the younger, have come to see her demise as a part of the Islamic Republic’s heavy-handed policing of dissent and the morality police’s more and more violent remedy of younger girls.
Police say that she died of a coronary heart assault and deny that she was mistreated. The authorities launched video footage purporting to point out the second she collapsed. Her household says she had no historical past of coronary heart hassle, and her demise in police custody has triggered daring shows of defiance from protesters, within the face of beatings and doable arrest.
The US authorities on Thursday imposed sanctions on Iran’s morality police and leaders of different authorities companies after Amini’s demise.
(With inputs from companies)
