You can’t keep your height without a hijab – Sport – Kommersant

The situation around Iranian rock climber Elnaz Rekabi is heating up. Last weekend, the girl, contrary to the law on the mandatory wearing of a hijab, performed at the Asian Championships in Seoul with her head uncovered and became the second athlete in the history of the country to decide on such an act. The gesture was seen as a sign of support for the protests sparked by the death of Mahsa Amini, who was detained by the vice police. Close athletes reported that after the tournament she stopped communicating. According to the news resource IranWire, she was taken into custody immediately upon her return to Tehran.

Leading foreign publications continue to express concerns about the safety of Iranian climber Elnaz Rekabi, who performed bareheaded at the Asian Championships last weekend. At the climbing wall, a 33-year-old girl appeared not in a hijab, which Iranian citizens are required by law from 1983 to wear in all public places, including abroad (otherwise they face criminal prosecution), but with a tightly tied tail.

Elnaz Rekabi is the most decorated climber from Iran, with a 2021 World Championship bronze and a couple of continental championship medals in her collection. She became the second athlete in the history of the country in the last half century to commit such an act. Before her, only one athlete competed in sports without a hijab – boxer Sadaf Khadem, who entered the ring in 2019 with her head uncovered and in sports shorts. Khadem chose not to return to her homeland, where an arrest warrant awaited her, but to stay in France.

With this gesture, Elnaz Rekabi decided to support the protests provoked by the death of her 22-year-old compatriot Mahsa Amini.

Recall, she was detained in Tehran by the morality police for “wrong” wearing the hijab. From the site, the girl was sent to the hospital, where she died a few days later. Relatives of Mahsa Amini believe that the cause of death was beatings in the police, but the authorities deny the beating.

Rekabi, as reported by someone close to the girl IranWire, wanted to speak without the “mandatory hijab” a month ago – around the same time mass protests began in Iran, during which women cut their hair and burned hijabs. At the same time, the athlete did not plan to “seek asylum in another country” and was determined to return to her homeland, where her husband lives.

On Sunday, the girl was worried about her safety. Immediately after the end of the competition, where Elnaz Rekabi took fourth place, she stopped communicating with her relatives. According to IranWire, the Iranian embassy in Seoul confiscated her passport and phone, and then sent her to Tehran a day ahead of schedule: not on Wednesday, but on Tuesday. It is specified that with the help of such a maneuver, the Iranian authorities hoped to avoid protests at the Imam Khomeini airport in Tehran. Meanwhile, the Iranian department denied this information on its Twitter page, calling it a lie.

Today, the rock climber appeared to have come forward with a lengthy statement on social media. In it, she apologized for the “disturbance caused”, and also said that she went to the climbing wall without a hijab “unintentionally”.

Elnaz Rekabi clarified that due to an unexpected invitation to the start, she simply did not have time to put it on. “At present, I and my team are returning to Iran in accordance with a pre-agreed schedule,” the text reads.

Meanwhile, IranWire, citing its own sources at the Imam Khomeini airport, claims that the girl was taken straight from the airport to the prison. And this post is just an attempt to smooth over the scandal.

International Federation of Sport Climbing (IFSC) responded to the incident. In an official statement, she said that she was aware of the news related to Elnaz Rekabi and was “trying to establish the facts.” The structure assured that “it will continue to monitor the development of the situation” after the climber’s arrival at home. “IFSC fully supports the rights of athletes, their choice and freedom of speech,” the organization concluded.

Ekaterina Remizova