Iranian climber Elnaz Rekabi was greeted at Tehran airport to cheers from an assembled crowd repeating the cry of!Elnaz, Ghahreman!, meaning Elnaz (Rekabi), heroine!.
Rekabi jumped to the forefront of today by appearing in some videos that showed her competing in South Korea no hijab. In a message on social networks published this Tuesday, she claimed that she had dropped her handkerchief by mistake and that he was coming home.
Initially, the incident was interpreted as intentional and was part of the campaign that Iranian women are carrying out both inside and outside their borders as a result of the death at the hands of the Iranian police of the adolescent Mahsa Aminiwho had been arrested for carrying misplaced hijab.
Conflicting information
The news since then is confusing. This morning it transpired that Rekabi had been taken to the Iranian embassy in Korea, where she was being held.. From the BBC they pointed out that a source close to the climber denounced that they had not been able to contact her since last Sunday night and that they suspected that the authorities of the Islamic Republic had commandeered the passport and the telephone to the athlete in Seoul.
However, as announced by Persian television Iran InternationalRekabi was making a stopover in Doha before boarding towards Tehranwhere it has landed around 5.10 am
This Tuesday, he appeared in the Instagram profile of the Iranian athlete a story in which he claimed that, in reality, what happened was that had a problem with her hijab during the competition Climbing “Due to bad timing and unexpected call to climb the wall, my head hijab fell off without me noticing.”
Elnaz has, in an Instagram story, said the “problem” with her hijab in the Climbing Competition happened “unintentionally” and because of “inappropriate timing”. She also apologized that she made the Iranian people worried, and that she’s returning to Iran along with the team. pic.twitter.com/c4NMBi1pWO
— Iran International English (@IranIntl_En) October 18, 2022
The climber has repeated this message as soon as she landed in Tehran, where she has been interviewed. In the images she can be seen tired and slightly nervous.
For its part, the IFSC (International Climbing Federation) has shown concern about the situation of Elnaz Rekabinoting that they will closely follow the development of the “situation as it unfolds upon arrival” in Iran, emphasizing that “the safety of the athletes is paramount to us”, concluding that “the IFSC fully supports the rights of athletes, their choices and freedom of expression.”
This case bears certain parallels with that of Shohreh Bayat, chess player and international referee, who was photographed without a hijab while serving as the main judge of the 2020 Women’s World Cup. This image was published in international media, which provoked the ire of Iranian fundamentalists. Speaking to ABC, Bayat pointed out that “they asked her to step aside, but I decided to be myself, fight and never take it forced.” This attitude caused her to receive numerous threats of deathpropitiating that he had to flee to Londonwhere you requested political asylum. She currently lives in the English capital, away from her husband and her family who remain in Iran.
