Iranian TV anchor flees country, citing sexual harassment from her boss
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}An Iranian news anchor says she has fled the country to escape years of repeated sexual harassment by the station’s director.
Sheena Shirani, a former broadcaster with Press TV, said she quit her job in mid-January.
She published a series of messages and voicemail recordings that she claimed she received from news director Hamid Emadi. In one recording published last week, Emadi is heard asking Shirani to come to his house so they can have sex.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}I just saw a text from a former manager at Press TV, Shahrzad Mir Gholikhan, asking me why I didn't use my fists and...
Posted by Sheena Shirani on Friday, February 5, 2016
"In our society, women basically have no value," Shirani said in an interview with Voice of America. "Firing people like Mr. Emadi is far from addressing the widespread sexual harassment problem of our society."
The station said Emadi is suspended until further notice pending an investigation.
"I was reminded time and again that I'm no more than an employee who can be fired at a flick of the fingers, that I need Press TV and they don't need me and being a single mum and a divorced woman, I am an easy target and prey for men," Shirani posted online.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Emadi and his boss, Mohammad Sarafraz, were banned by the European Union in 2013 for allegedly extracting and broadcasting forced confessions from political prisoners, Voice of America reports.