Sports reporter 'requested' to wear hijab before interviewing Iran's football players

A female journalist was told she could not conduct a post-match interview with members of the Iranian football team unless she covered her hair, according to the reporter on Friday.

The request was made following Iran's win over Uruguay in a pre-World Cup friendly in St. Poelten, Austria.

Isabelle Parker, a sport reporter with the Irish edition of The Sun newspaper, said she was "surprised" when she was told she could not interview the players or their coach, Portuguese Carlos Queiroz, unless she covered her hair.

The demand, according to the reporter, came from the team’s press officer, and not from the football players or the coach themselves.

She went on to say that the Iranian players were "friendly and cooperative".

Parker told The Sun that she "considered" staging a protest outside the team’s hotel in the capital Vienna, but ultimately decided to cover her hair as she wanted to proceed with interviewing them.

The reporter could not find a proper headscarf and found herself resorting to use an item of clothing as a makeshift veil.

She said: "I couldn’t believe what was being asked of me and I even thought about staging my own protest. But I had a job to do so my only real option was to comply".

The Iranian Football Federation had earlier barred all media from reporting on ­Friday’s game before reneging on the decision, according to The Irish Sun.

Last week, veteran CNN journalist Christiane Amanpour cancelled an interview with Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi, after he requested that she covers her hair with a veil in their meeting in New York, during the leader’s visit to the UN General Assembly.

Amanpour pointed out that no Iranian leader had ever made such a request during an interview outside of the country, according to Variety.

Iranians are currently taking to the streets to protest the death of 22-year-old Mahsa Amini, also known as Zhina or Jina, who was pronounced dead in police custody on 16 September following her arrest by the country’s Morality Police for "incorrectly" wearing the hijab.

At least 41 people have been killed amid the demonstrations, following a crackdown by authorities.