Reuters
NOS News••Amended
Iranian climber Elnaz Rekabi, who competed in the Asian Championships without a headscarf and then went missing, according to the BBC, is back in Iran.
Rekabi was welcomed like a heroine on arrival in Tehran, given flowers and surrounded by television cameras. At Imam Khomeini International Airport, a large crowd gathered who chanted her name.
The 33-year-old Iranian was wearing a baseball cap and hoodie that covered her hair. In front of the cameras, she said, as before on Instagram, that not wearing the Iran-mandated headgear during her performance at the Asian Championships in South Korea was “unintentional”.
Climber Rekabi back in Iran, says she was not missing
She described how she hadn’t thought about her hijab in a waiting room just before her climb. “Since I was busy putting on my shoes and gear, I forgot to put on my hijab and then I had to start.”
She added that she had come back to Iran with peace of mind, but that she had also experienced a lot of stress and tension. “But thank goodness nothing has happened so far.”
It is not clear whether pressure has been exerted on the athlete by the Iranian regime. According to human rights groups, critics are more often pressured to confess on state television.
Since the Islamic revolution in 1979, Iranian women have been obliged to cover their hair in public with a headscarf and to wear long loose-fitting clothing, including when participating in sports competitions.
protests
Rekabi’s appearance without a headgear comes at a time of five weeks of protests inside and outside Iran over the death of a 22-year-old woman while incarcerated. Mahsa Amini had been arrested for her clothing. Since her death, more Iranian women are appearing in public without head coverings. Protests in more than 100 cities are severely crushed.
There were therefore fears of repercussions against Rekabi when the BBC first reported that she was missing in Seoul, and later that her phone and passport had been confiscated and her return flight had been moved forward. She now returned to Tehran with the entire Iranian team. After arriving, she would have gone to her house.
