“Elnaz! Hero! Elnaz! Hero!” Under the enthusiastic cries of the crowd, the Iranian athlete Elnaz Rekabi landed in the night, Wednesday, October 19, at Tehran airport, after having participated in the Asian climbing championships, in South Korea. In a video posted on Twitter by a journalist from the Pointwe see the climber being acclaimed, on her return from the competition in which she participated without wearing a veil, breaking a law of the Islamic Republic.
“Elnaz! Hero! Elnaz! Hero!”, chants a crowd gathered last night in front of Imam Khomeini International Airport in Tehran to welcome the climbing champion. #Elnaz_Rekabi who caused a sensation by participating without a veil in the Asian championshipspic.twitter.com/Ykq3RNjsLo
— Armin Arefi (@arminarefi) October 19, 2022
After this gesture, interpreted as support for the ongoing protest movement in the country, his relatives said on Sunday that they had not heard from the 33-year-old athlete since the end of the competition.
In his first Instagram comment since his disappearance, Elnaz Rekabi presented on Tuesday “apologies for the concern” that she may have caused. She assures that the decision to remove her veil was not “unintentional” but motivated by the call to perform the test earlier than planned. “I am currently on my way back to Iran with the team according to schedule”she continues.
But the circumstances of the publication of this press release raised questions as to possible pressure exerted on the athlete. The BBC in Persian quoted an unnamed source as saying her friends failed to reach her and the team left their hotel in Seoul on Monday, two days earlier than planned. His mobile phone and his passport were confiscated, according to the same source.
The Iran Wire news site reports that the president of the Iranian climbing federation allegedly lured her to the Iranian embassy to drive her directly to the airport, assuring Elnaz Rekabi that she could return. safe and sound in Iran provided he hands over his phone and passport, according to the outlet. “Elnaz Rekabi was forced to confess on television (…). She is only repeating what she was told to say”reacts an Iranian journalist who collaborates with Iran Wire by posting the video of an interview with the athlete when he gets off the plane.
#Elnaz_Rekabi was forced to confess on TV. As expected upon returning to #Iran, #Elnaz was forced to confess again and say that she made a mistake. You can see the fear in her eyes. She’s just repeating what she’s been told. This is not an interview. This is a forced confession pic.twitter.com/IblgVgxBti
— Maziar Bahari (@maziarbahari) October 19, 2022
For its part, the Iranian embassy in Seoul denied “all false information and misinformation” about her situation and said she left South Korea with her teammates on Tuesday, according to a statement to AFP.
The Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights of the United Nations has indicated that it is “aware” of this file and warned that he “will follow very carefully”according to a statement by one of its spokespersons, Ravina Shamdasani, in Geneva. “Women should never be prosecuted for what they wear. They should never suffer violations of their rights such as arbitrary detention or any form of violence because of what they wear,” did she say.