Zaha Hadid puts phone down on Radio 4 interview

Zaha Hadid hung up on BBC Radio 4’s Today programme mid-interview after presenter Sarah Montague claimed 1,200 migrant workers had died building Hadid’s World Cup stadium in Qatar.

The BBC later issued an apology, saying there is "no evidence of deaths" at the stadium site.

Hadid was invited on to the show to mark the announcement that she has become the first woman to win the prestigious Royal Gold Medal for architecture.

Zaha Hadid at her exhibition in east London  Photo: CHRISTOPHER PLEDGER

But the conversation soon soured after Montague moved the conversation on to the 2022 World Cup and Hadid’s design for the Al Wakrah Stadium.

Montague brought up a 2013 report by the International Trade Union Confederation, which included the claim that over 1,000 migrant workers had died in Qatar on World Cup construction projects in 2012-13. A graphic illustrating the figures later went viral on social media.
Work on the Al Wakrah Stadium did not begin until 2013.
Hadid grew increasingly angry at Montague’s line of questioning, and when the subject next turned to the architect’s controversial design for the Tokyo Olympic stadium she’d had enough.
“Let’s stop this conversation right now. I don’t want to carry on,” she said, before ending the call.
Artists impression of the Al-Wakrah Stadium in Qatar  Photo: EPA
The interview had begun with Montague asking Hadid about her "scary" reputation.
Seven hours after the interview aired, the BBC issued a statement that read: "The ITUC’s figure of 1200 construction deaths which was quoted on this morning’s programme refers to the whole of Qatar, and not specifically to the main World Cup stadium site. We are sorry we didn’t make this clear in this morning’s interview with Dame Zaha Hadid. We are happy to accept there is no evidence of deaths at the main stadium site."
While the claim was inaccurate, the issue of migrant workers' rights in Qatar is a source of concern for campaigners.
Mustafa Qadri, Amnesty International's Gulf migrant rights researcher, said: "Rather than pretending there isn’t a problem of chronic labour abuse in Qatar, key figures in the World Cup-led construction boom like Zaha Hadid should be calling on the authorities to do more - like finally reform the kafala sponsorship system so that migrant workers are free to choose their employers, leave the country, live and work in dignity, and seek their rights without fear of facing further abuse.
"It’s important to remember that migrant labour abuse in Qatar goes well beyond the issue of deaths. An estimated 1.6 million migrant workers are subjected to the kafala sponsorship system that puts them in a position of forced labour, because they can’t freely change jobs or leave the country, and risk abuse for complaining about unsafe work practices, poor accommodation, late or low pay, or other abuses."
A spokesman for Hadid said: "Since works began at the Al Wakrah Stadium site in 2013, the construction crews have completed over 1.2 million working hours on the site with no accidents causing lost-time. The authorities in Qatar managing the Al Wakrah Stadium site operate to the highest levels of workers’ health, safety and welfare."

Transcript: Zaha Hadid's Radio 4 interview

Sarah Montague: One of your buildings is the Qatar stadium where there have been considerable problems, not least the number of deaths
Zaha Hadid: There haven’t been any problems, actually, I have to put you right. There hasn’t been a single problem in our stadium in Qatar
Montague: More than 1200 migrant workers have died there...
Hadid: Absolutely not true. We sued somebody for writing that and it had to be withdrawn from the press, it is absolutely inaccurate
Montague: It is very widely reported there have been a huge number of…
Hadid: It’s absolutely untrue.
…
Montague: This was a report first published in 2013 by the International Trades Union Confederation
Hadid: I’m sorry to say it was removed, I sued someone in the press for it and they had to withdraw and apologise
Montague: So you can categorically state there have been no deaths in the building of your…
Hadid: Yes, absolutely not. You should check your facts… I can’t talk about the planet, I’m not talking about the entire world, I’m talking about my site – [and there has been] not one
Montague: Okay, well, that’s fascinating to clear that up...
Hadid: It’s not fascinating
...
[on the design for the Tokyo Olympic stadium, which has since been dropped by the Japanese government]
Hadid: This is a very serious story and it should be reported accurately, and somebody should be interested in it because it's a scandal and it should be reported properly.
Montague: Okay, we are intersted, can you tell us why it's a scandal - what happened?
Hadid: Well, it's a scandal because we won this competition almost three years ago, it was an international competition entered by many Japanese architects and we won it... we were awarded this project, we worked on it, we are partners with a Japanese company...
Montague: Okay, and the Prime Minister - we will have to just speed up a little bit...
Hadid: Don't ask me a question when you can't let me finish it. Then I won't say anything
Montague: We really welcome you to make the point. If I can just make it clear, the Japanese Prime Minister pulled the plug on it, as we understand it, because of soaring costs - it was a $2bn price. Are you saying that's wrong?
Hadid: No, but listen to me - let's stop this conversation right now. I don't want to carry on, thank you very much [hangs up]
Montague: Dame Zaha Hadid, thank you for talking to us