The Daily Show: Ears Edition - Christiane Amanpour on Refusing to Wear Headscarf for Iran’s President

Episode Date: October 2, 2022

“In that moment, I was not, as a journalist or as a woman, going to put a headscarf on and somehow bind myself…” CNN’s chief international anchor Christiane Amanpour discusses the recent protests in Iran following the death of a 22-year-old woman who was detained by the morality police for showing her hair, the qualms Iranian women have with the government, and how the people of Iran want a democracy.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

You're listening to Comedy Central. Everyone has been talking about the situation in Iran. And if you haven't heard, about 10 days ago, a young woman named Masa Amini was arrested by the morality police for not properly covering her hair, and then she died in their custody. Ever since then, Iranians have been pouring into the streets, demanding justice for her death, and freedom for Iran's women. Now, so far, the government has answered the protesters with brutal violence and has shown no signs of reconsidering the law that requires women to cover their hair. In fact, last week, the president of Iran was scheduled to be interviewed by CNN's Christian

Armandpor in New York, and at the last minute, he demanded that she wear a headscarf for the interview, even though the interview was in New York, and when she refused, he straight up just canceled the interview and left. Just left her looking like she was giving therapy to a ghost. So joining me now to talk about the interview and the situation in Iran is Christian Amon Paul. Christian, welcome to the show. Let's jump straight into it. You have interviewed many Iranian presidents.

You have never been in a situation like this before, where they demanded of you that you wear the headscarf not in Iran. Walk me through the situation, and also why you chose to not do what the presidents of Iran requested. Well, very briefly, like, you know, with my team, we wanted to do this interview and we were going to get the Iranian president's first and exclusive interview on American soil. And as you know, because New Yorkers know, it's gridlock at the UN, this is the UN week, and one of the things we like to do is get voices from all over the world, including the Iranian president.

So I've done this now many years. And I've always had the first interview with the latest Iranian president. And it's never been an issue. There is no law in the United States that requires a journalist to wear a scarf for any interview. And it was never an issue and by the way I find out that this guy he had a breakfast, he had a press conference and he didn't require anybody to wear a scarf. So you know come to the evening and it's now eight o'clock and then they say he's praying and he's resting and you know we're going to do it a little bit later and suddenly an aid came and said we would like the president would like you to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to the to to to the the to the the the the the to to the the the the the their their their their their their their their their their their their their their their their a the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the an aid came and said, we would like, the president

would like you to wear a scarf. I'm like, why? No, I don't have to wear a scarf. Anyway, cut to the chase. It is not law. And as a journalist, I made instantaneously a journalistic decision based on the principle that A, it wasn't law, and B, you don't get, you know, strong-armed by a foreign government or any government when you're trying to sit and conduct a previously arranged interview. It seems like, and I can't help thinking that this was most probably, I guess, in some way, shape or form motivated by the timing. You know, you are of Iranian descent. Do you think that there was an element of him not wanting to appear on camera with

you for fear of a message it may send to a country that's very quickly turning against this dictator? Well, I think you're right. I don't know that by sure, but I sure, but I do actually believe that he did not want to be seen with a woman who whose head was uncovered, right at the same time that in his own country there was an uprising on the streets, and in fact a woman had died, a young woman had died because of this, while in the custody of the morality police. And I will just say that this morality police has been around since, you know, 40-plus years of the Islamic Revolution, but under some presidents, it's less obvious and less strict, and under some it's much more strict. So this particular president is one of the very hard-line variety, and he basically came to power by making the crackdown on all sorts

of social norms, including on women's dress and their activity. That was a central theme of his campaign. And, you know, clearly, it's all gone, as we say, pair-shaped, because I don't think he expected that something like this would cause the worst uprising in Iran since 2009. It's really interesting and you know your audience should know and your viewers that some 80% of the Iranian people are under the age of 21. 60% of Iranian students and university graduates are women. Women have a lot of power and they want their full rights.

I think they have every right to want that. And across the world, you know, I think there may be some misconception. Some see this as these women completely going up against Islam, when in fact it's not that. What they're saying is they have nothing against anybody practicing a religion or anyone you know dressing the way their religion requires their their qualms seems to be about the government forcing people to do it should they not wish to is that correct? Look that is correct the fact of the matter is that it is the law, at least the social

law. I don't know, it's written in the legal, the legal books, but it is the social and religious law and it has been since the beginning of the Revolution, which happened in 1979. But interestingly, Trevor, you know, the women came out in the streets back then, 40 plus years ago, to also call for a change of regime. But they were were thua thua thua thua their their their their their thiiiii, their their their thi, it was thi, it was their thi, it's thi, it's the, it's th. It's th. It's th. It's the, the, it's the. It's the. It's, the, th. It's, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, you, their, you, you, you, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, the. It's the. It's written, the. It's written, theate. It's, theate. It's, the. It's, theat. It's, the. It's, their, their, also call for a change of regime. But they were not wearing head scarves and there was no question at that time where the beginning of head scarves being compulsory. I know women who went into the streets at that time including members of my own family who wanted to get rid of one monarchy for what they thought was going to be democracy. Then very shortly thereafter Ayatollollah Chomeney said,

oh no, actually you women, you need to be veiled. And that has been a bubbling cauldron for the last many, many years. I had a wonderful woman on my show tonight, Marjan's satrapi. If any of you know the graphic novel Persepolis, which she wrote about her childhood, she basically said this, look, the people of Iran want a democracy. The minute you take off the veil, you know, their dictatorship will go. So the regime is not going to allow that. But she said, she put it this way,

it's only to keep men's eyes off women. So if they're so porny, she said, and they're so unable to control themselves, well, maybe they should take a cold shower or look somewhere else. And that's the bottom line, and I'm, you know, sorry to say, even in your country, Trevor, even in the United States, with this law that has, you know, banned the ability for women to make their own choices about their own bodies, it's something incredibly important that we have to, you you you you you you you you you you you you you, you, you, you, you, you, you, you, you, you, you, you, you, you, you, you, you, you, you, you, you, you, you, you, you, you, you thua, you thua, you tham, you tham, you tham, you th thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, and thi, and thi, and th..... And, th... And, th, th, th, th, th, th, th, th, th....... And, th. And, th. And, th. And, th. th. thi, thin, thin, thin, thin, thin, that, that, that, that, that, and that, that, that, and that, that, and that, and that, and that, and that, and that something incredibly important that we have to, you know, keep an eye on. And in that moment, I was not, as a journalist or as a woman, going to put a headscarf on and somehow bind myself in some kind of, you know.

Well, as always, I appreciate you taking the time to join us on the show. I appreciate you, you know, I've grown up watching you cover all of these stories, and as always, I appreciate the work that you do out there. Thank you so much for joining us on the Daily Show once again. Thank you. Be sure to watch Christian's AhmanPore show. It is on CNN I, which airs weekdays on PBS and show full episodes any of of the th, th, th, th, th, th, th, th, th, th, th, th, th, the th, th, th, thi, the thi, the thi, thi, the the, the, I the the the, I the the work the work the work the, I the work the work the work the work the work the work the work the work the work the work the work the work the work the work the work the work the work the work the work, I the work, I the work, I the work, I the work, I the work, I the work the work the work the work the work the work the work the work the work the work the work the work the, I the, I the, I the, I theateat, theateat, theat-augh, theat-a, that's theat-a' that's that that's theat-a' theat, I the work, I the work. Watch the Daily Show, weeknights at 11, 10 Central on Comedy Central, and stream full episodes anytime on Paramount Plus. This has been a Comedy Central podcast.