Speaker 1: You're listening to Comedy Central. Everyone has been talking about
Speaker 1: the situation in Iran, and if you haven't heard about,
Speaker 1: ten days ago, a young woman named Massa Amini was
Speaker 1: arrested by the Morality police for not properly covering her hair,
Speaker 1: and then she died in their custody. Ever since then,
Speaker 1: Iranians have been pouring into the streets demanding justice for
Speaker 1: her death and freedom for Iran's women. Now, so far,
Speaker 1: the government has answered the protesters with brutal violence and
Speaker 1: has shown no signs of reconsidering the law that requires
Speaker 1: women to cover their hair. In fact, last week, the
Speaker 1: President of Iran was scheduled to be interviewed by CNN's
Speaker 1: Christian Amanpaul in New York, and at the last minute
Speaker 1: he demanded that she wear a head scarf for the interview,
Speaker 1: even though the interview was in New York, and when
Speaker 1: she refused, he straight up to canceled the interview and
Speaker 1: left just left her looking like she was giving therapy
Speaker 1: to a ghost. So joining me now to talk about
Speaker 1: the interview and the situation in Iran is Christian Aman Paul.
Speaker 1: Christianity will come to the frost um. Let's jump straight
Speaker 1: into it. You have interviewed many Iranian presidents, you have
Speaker 1: never been in a situation like this before where they
Speaker 1: where they demanded of you that you wear the headscarff
Speaker 1: not in Iran. But walk me through the situation and
Speaker 1: also why you chose to not do what the what
Speaker 1: the president of Iran requested. Well, very briefly, like you know,
Speaker 1: with my team, we wanted to do this interview and
Speaker 1: we were going to get the Iranian president's first an
Speaker 1: exclusive interview on American soil. And as you know, because
Speaker 1: New Yorkers, no, it's gridlock at the u N. This
Speaker 1: is the u N Week and one of the things
Speaker 1: we like to do is get voices from all over
Speaker 1: the world, including the Iranian president. So I've done this
Speaker 1: now many years, and I've always had the first interview
Speaker 1: with the latest Iranian president and it's never been an issue.
Speaker 1: There is no law in the United States that requires
Speaker 1: a journalist to wear a scarf for any interview. Um
Speaker 1: and it was never an issue. And by the way,
Speaker 1: I find out that this guy, he had a breakfast,
Speaker 1: he had a press conference, and he didn't require anybody
Speaker 1: to wear a scarf. So you know, come to the
Speaker 1: evening and it's now eight o'clock. And then they see
Speaker 1: he's praying and he's resting, and you know, we're gonna
Speaker 1: do it a little bit later. And suddenly um an
Speaker 1: aid came and said, um, we would like the president
Speaker 1: would like you to wear a scarf. I'm like, why,
Speaker 1: um No, I don't have to wear a scarf. Anyway,
Speaker 1: cut to the chase, it is not law, and as
Speaker 1: a journalist, I made instantaneously a journalistic decision based on
Speaker 1: the principle that it wasn't law, and be you don't get,
Speaker 1: you know, strong armed by a foreign government or any
Speaker 1: government when you're trying to sit and conduct a previously
Speaker 1: arranged interview. It seems it seems like and I can't tell,
Speaker 1: thinking that this was most probably um I guess in
Speaker 1: some way, shape or form, motivated by the timing. You
Speaker 1: know you are of Iranian descent. Do you think that
Speaker 1: there was an element of him not wanting to appear
Speaker 1: on camera with you for fear of a message that
Speaker 1: may center a country that's very quickly turning against this dictator. Well,
Speaker 1: I think you're you're right. I mean, I don't know
Speaker 1: that I'm sure, but I do actually believe that he
Speaker 1: did not want to be seen with a woman who
Speaker 1: who whose head was uncovered, right at the same time
Speaker 1: that in his own country there was an uprising on
Speaker 1: the streets, and in fact a woman had died, a
Speaker 1: young woman had died because of this um while in
Speaker 1: the custody of the morality police. And I would just
Speaker 1: say that this morality police has been around since, you know,
Speaker 1: forty plus years of the Islamic Revolution, but under some
Speaker 1: presidents it's less obvious and less strict, and under some
Speaker 1: it's much more strict. So this particular president is one
Speaker 1: of the very hardline variety, and he basically came to
Speaker 1: power by um making the crackdown on all sorts of
Speaker 1: social norms, including on women's dress and their activity. That
Speaker 1: was the central theme of his campaign. And you know,
Speaker 1: clearly it's all gone, as we say, pear shaped, because
Speaker 1: I don't think he expected that something like this would
Speaker 1: cause the worst uprising in Iran since two thousand nine.
Speaker 1: It's really interesting and your you know, your audience should
Speaker 1: know in your viewers that some of the Iranian people
Speaker 1: are under the age of twenty one. Sixt of Iranian
Speaker 1: students and university graduates are women. Women have a lot
Speaker 1: of power, and they want their full rights. I think
Speaker 1: they have every right to want that, and across the
Speaker 1: world that, you know, I think there may be some misconception,
Speaker 1: some se this as these women completely going up against Islam,
Speaker 1: when in fact it's not that. What they're saying is
Speaker 1: they have nothing against anybody practicing a religion or anyone,
Speaker 1: you know, dressing the way their religion requires their Their
Speaker 1: qualm seems to be about the government forcing people to
Speaker 1: do it should they not wish to. Is that correct? Look,
Speaker 1: that is correct. The fact of the matter is that
Speaker 1: it is uh the law, at least the social law.
Speaker 1: I don't know it's written in the you know, the
Speaker 1: legal the legal books, but it is the social and
Speaker 1: religious law, and it has been since the beginning of
Speaker 1: the revolution, which happened in nineteen nine. But interestingly, Trevor,
Speaker 1: you know, the women came out in the streets back
Speaker 1: then forty plus years ago to also call for a
Speaker 1: change of regime, but they were not wearing head scarves,
Speaker 1: and there was no question at that time where the
Speaker 1: beginning of head scarves being compulsory. I know women who
Speaker 1: went into the streets at that time, including members of
Speaker 1: my own family who wanted to get rid of one
Speaker 1: monarchy for what they thought was going to be democracy.
Speaker 1: Then very shortly thereafter I told Hamdi said, oh no, actually,
Speaker 1: you women you need to be you know, veiled. And
Speaker 1: that has been a bubbling cauldron for the last many
Speaker 1: many years. I had a wonderful woman on my show tonight,
Speaker 1: married John Satrapi. If any of you know the graphic
Speaker 1: novel novel Persepolis, which she wrote about her childhood, she
Speaker 1: basically said this, Look, the people of Iran wanted democracy.
Speaker 1: The minute you take off the veil, you know, their
Speaker 1: dictatorship will go. So the regime is not going to
Speaker 1: allow that. But she said, she put it this way,
Speaker 1: it's only to keep men's eyes off women. So if
Speaker 1: they're so corny, she said, and they're so unable to
Speaker 1: control themselves, well maybe they should take a cold shower
Speaker 1: or look somewhere else. And that's the bottom line. And
Speaker 1: I'm you know, sorry to solve even in your country, Trevor,
Speaker 1: even in the United States with this law that has
Speaker 1: you know, banned, the ability for women to make their
Speaker 1: own choice is about their own bodies. It's something incredibly
Speaker 1: important that we have to you know, keep an eye
Speaker 1: on and that in that moment, I was not as
Speaker 1: a journalist or as a woman going to put a
Speaker 1: headscarf on and somehow bind myself in some kind of
Speaker 1: you know. Well, as always, I appreciate you taking the
Speaker 1: time to join us on the show. Um, I appreciate you.
Speaker 1: You know, I've I've grown up watching you cover all
Speaker 1: of these stories and and as always I appreciate the
Speaker 1: work that you do out there. Thank you so much
Speaker 1: for joining us on the Daily Show. Once again, Thank you.
Speaker 1: Be sure to watch Christians. I'm on a Poor Show.
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