LIranian sportswoman Elnaz Rekabi, who participated in a climbing competition in South Korea without a veil, returned to Tehran on Wednesday, greeted like a hero by her supporters at the airport.
His participation in the Asian climbing championships, wearing only a bandana on his head, was interpreted as a gesture of solidarity with the demonstrations sparked on September 16 by the death of the young Iranian Kurd Mahsa Amini.
She died three days after she was arrested in Tehran by vice police who accused her of breaking the Islamic Republic of Iran’s strict dress code for women.
The veil is compulsory for all women in public spaces in Iran, and the Islamic Republic requires Iranian sportswomen to wear it when they compete abroad under the national colors.
Twice since Tuesday, Elnaz Rekabi, 33, has offered an “apology” and explained that his scarf had slipped by mistake. But human rights activists believe that these statements, in front of the press and on social networks, could have been obtained under pressure.
“Elnaz is a heroine”, “Bravo Elnaz”, shouted dozens of people gathered in front of the Tehran airport terminal to welcome the young woman to applause and cheers, brandishing mobile phones to film her.
“Mes excuses”
The crowd, where there were women not wearing the veil, surrounded a van and a car where the sportswoman took place.
Elnaz Rekabi, accompanied by members of her family, was received during the day by Sports Minister Hamid Sajjadi, according to an official statement.
The reception outside the airport is “worthy of a heroine, including from women without the compulsory veil. Concerns remain for her safety”, commented the NGO Center for Human Rights in Iran (CHRI), based in Iran.
Dressed in a black hooded jacket and a baseball cap, Elnaz Rekabi was welcomed into the terminal by her relatives, before speaking to the media.
“Due to the climate during the finals of the competition and the fact that I was called to start when I was not expecting it, I found myself entangled in my technical equipment (…). Because of that, I didn’t pay attention to the headscarf I should have worn,” she said.
“I returned to Iran in peace, in perfect health and according to the planned program. I apologize to the Iranian people for the tensions created,” she said, adding that she had “no intention of saying goodbye to the national team”.
“Not intentional”
But Iran has repeatedly been accused of inducing forced confessions or statements.
The British actress of Iranian origin Nazanin Boniadi, ambassador for Amnesty International in the United Kingdom, considered that the sportswoman had been “forced to make this statement by the authorities, customary of forced confessions on television”.
“You can see the fear in her eyes. She is just repeating what she has been told,” exiled Iranian journalist Maziar Bahari wrote on Twitter.
Amnesty International stressed that the young woman was back “at the risk of arbitrary arrest, torture and other ill-treatment”.
Already on Tuesday, the sportswoman had presented on Instagram “apologies for the concern” that she may have caused and assured that the decision to remove her veil was “unintentional”.
On Sunday, Elnaz Rekabi wore a bandana during the bouldering event and a headband showing his hair during a second event, according to images released by the International Climbing Federation. She placed fourth in the competition.
After the protests began in Iran, several Iranian sportswomen spoke out in favor of women’s rights.
The protests, the largest in several years in Iran, have continued for more than a month despite the crackdown which has left at least 122 dead according to a report by Iran Human Rights (IHR) based in Oslo.
The authorities are also preparing to “criminalize” the sale of virtual private networks, or VPNs, used to circumvent Internet restrictions imposed in Iran to limit demonstrations.
Iranian leaders mainly accuse the United States, Iran’s sworn enemy, of being behind the protests which they describe as “riots” and reject the sanctions imposed by the West.
10/19/2022 18:21:50 – Paris (AFP) – © 2022 AFP