(Paris) An investigation has been opened in France following the complaint of aggravated cyberbullying filed by Algerian boxer Imane Khelif, gold medalist at the Paris Olympic Games and victim of a hate campaign linked to her gender since the end of her first fight.
The athlete, who won the -66 kg final at the Paris Olympics, was presented on social media as a “man fighting women” after her opponent gave up in the first minute of the first round.
After her Olympic victory, Imane Khelif defended herself by calling herself a “strong woman” with “special powers” and by taking legal action in France.
“Having just won a gold medal at the 2024 Paris Olympics, boxer Imane Khelif has decided to lead a new fight: that of justice, dignity and honor,” her lawyer Nabil Boudi wrote in a press release on Saturday, announcing that he had filed a complaint the day before.
According to the American magazine Varietybillionaire Elon Musk, owner of X, and the author of the saga of Harry PotterJK Rowling, known for her controversial positions on transgender people, are named in the complaint.
The Paris prosecutor’s office opened an investigation on Tuesday into “cyberharassment based on gender, public insult based on gender, public provocation to discrimination and public insult based on origin,” it told AFP.
The investigations were entrusted to the National Unit for Combating Online Hate.
According to her lawyer, “the unfair harassment suffered by the boxing champion will remain the biggest stain of these Olympic Games.” “The criminal investigation will determine who initiated this misogynistic, racist and sexist campaign, but will also have to focus on those who fueled this digital lynching,” he added.
“A woman like any other”
At the Tokyo Games in the summer of 2021, his participation did not cause any controversy.
The controversy over her gender, led by conservative circles, has its origins in her exclusion, like Taiwanese Lin Yu-ting, from the world championships in New Delhi in March 2023.
According to the International Boxing Federation (IBA), Imane Khelif had failed a test intended to establish her gender. Not recognized by the Olympic world, the IBA refused to specify what type of test had been carried out.
The International Olympic Committee had decided that she could participate in the Games in the women’s tournament.
“I am a strong woman with special powers. From the ring, I sent a message to those who were against me,” Imane Khelif told the media after her victory. “I have been the subject of attacks and a fierce campaign and this is the best answer I can give. The answer has always been in the ring,” she added.
“I am fully eligible to participate, I am a woman like any other. I was born a woman, I lived as a woman and I competed as a woman,” insisted the Olympic champion.
Algerian athletes, including medallists Imane Khelif, French-Algerian gymnast Kaylia Nemour and middle-distance runner Djamel Sedjati, received a triumphant welcome on Monday upon their return to Algiers.
The gold medal-winning boxer wanted to “thank the Algerian people who supported her in this ordeal and gave her strength” in the face of a “fierce campaign”.
In early August, another investigation into cyberbullying was opened in Paris following online threats and insults against Thomas Jolly, artistic director of the opening ceremony of the Paris Olympics, because of his sexual orientation and Israeli origins, which were wrongly attributed to him.