Iranian competitive climber Elnaz Rekabi was placed on house arrest in Iran Friday after she competed without wearing a hijab in South Korea.
Rekabi returned to Tehran this week from the International Federation of Sport Climbing’s Asia Championship in South Korea where she refused to done a hijab which is required of female athletes by the Islamic Republic.
She was met with cheers from admirers who greeted her at the airport.
Iranian athlete Elnaz Rekabi competes during the women’s Boulder Lead final during the IFSC Climbing Asian Championships in Seoul, Sunday, Oct. 16, 2022.
(Rhea Khang/International Federation of Sport Climbing via AP)
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The 33-year-old’s phone was confiscated after arriving in her hometown of Zanjan in northwest Iran, Persian news outlet Iran International reported Friday.
Though refusing to wear a hijab violates Tehran’s dress requirements for female athletes, president of Iran’s national Olympic committee, Khosravi Vafa, said Rekabi would not be penalized.
Vafa said the athlete’s actions were “unintentional” despite coinciding with nationwide protests over the death of 22-year-old Mahsa Amini who was beaten and killed for wearing her hijab too loosely.
“It’s a small issue. I’m surprised that it is being talked about so much,” Vafa said. “In our view, it was not a big issue.”
In this image taken from video by Iran’s state-run IRNA news agency, Iranian competitive climber Elnaz Rekabi speaks to journalists in Imam Khomeini International Airport in Tehran, Iran, Wednesday, Oct. 19, 2022.
(IRNA via AP)
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Upon returning to Iran Reakabi was said to have been hosted as “a guest at Iran’s Olympic committee hotel for one day, along with her family,” according to Vafa.
But it remains unclear whether Rekabi had a choice in staying at the hotel and images later surfaced showing her donning the same black baseball cap and hoodie that she wore after her flight during a meeting hours later.
Iranian news outlets also reported Thursday that her brother had been arrested by the Iranian Revolutionary Guard following a complaint that had been issued by Vafa as the head of the Iranian Olympic Committee.
A woman looks at a screen displaying a video of an international climbing competition is Seoul, South Korea, during which Iranian climber Elnaz Rekabi competes without a hijab, in the Cypriot capital Nicosia on October 18, 2022.
(AFP via Getty Images)
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Rebaki supporters remain concerned over the athlete’s welfare.
Tehran continues to face nationwide protests and opposition at home relating to its human rights abuses with a particular focus on its strict restrictions on women’s rights.
Andrew Mark Miller contributed to this report.
