Architect hangs up on BBC in Qatar stadium deaths row
ONE of Britain’s leading architects cut short a BBC interview yesterday after being quizzed about deaths of construction workers in Qatar, where she has designed a stadium.
Dame Zaha Hadid snapped ‘ check your facts’ at the presenter and later hung up the phone after she was asked about claims by human right groups that at least 1,200 workers have died in the run-up to the country hosting the 2022 World Cup.
The interview with Sarah Montague on the Radio 4 Today programme became heated when t he j ournalist all eged some had occurred at the site of the 40,000- seater AlWakrah stadium designed by Dame Zaha, 64.
The Iraqi-born architect, who designed the Riverside Museum in Glasgow, said there had not been a ‘single problem in the stadium’ and the BBC later apologised, accepting there was no evidence to suggest there had been.
When Montague quoted a disputed report over the deaths of migrant workers, the architect retorted: ‘ Absolutely not true. We sued somebody for writing that and saying that. It has had to be withdrawn from the Press … There is no deaths on our side whatsoever. You should check your information.’
The presenter angered the architect further during a subsequent discussion on her work on the 2020 Tokyo Olympics stadium, which she was forced to abandon. Dame Zaha snapped: ‘Let’s stop this conversation right now. I don’t want to carry on. Thank you very much.’
The BBC later apologised, saying: ‘The International Trade Union Conference’s figure of 1,200 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.’
The Qatari government disputes the claims.