People to salute his gesture… And perhaps also to make sure that nothing happens to him, once he sets foot in his country. The Iranian sportswoman Elnaz Rekabi, who had participated without a veil in the Asian climbing championships in South Korea on Sunday, returned to Tehran on Wednesday, greeted like a hero by her supporters at the airport. Her participation in the competition without a veil had been interpreted as a gesture of solidarity with the demonstrations sparked a month ago by the death of the young Iranian Kurd Mahsa Amini after her arrest by the vice squad.
Elnaz Rekabi, 33, arrived at Imam Khomeini International Airport in Tehran on Wednesday morning, according to a video released by Iran’s official Irna news agency. “Elnaz is a heroine”, shouted dozens of people massed in front of the airport terminal to welcome the young woman to applause and cheers, brandishing mobile phones to film the scene, as a journalist from the BBC specialist in Iran.
The crowd, including women not wearing the veil, then surrounded a white van and a car where the sportswoman and members of her team would have been seated, who left the airport, still to applause, for a destination unknown.
Not a political gesture?
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. “Because of the climate that prevailed during the finals of the competition and the fact that I was called to start when I did not expect 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.”
The Islamic Republic has repeatedly been accused by human rights defenders of provoking forced confessions or statements on television or on social networks. Already on Tuesday, the sportswoman had presented on her Instagram account, with more than 200,000 subscribers, “apologies for the concern” that she may have caused and assured that the decision to remove her veil was “not intentional” but motivated. by the call to perform the test earlier than scheduled.
Sport, a sensitive subject in Iran
Human rights defenders outside Iran had expressed concern over her fate, with several of her friends saying they could not reach her. The Iranian embassy in Seoul had denied “all false information and disinformation” about her situation and said she had left South Korea with her teammates on Tuesday.
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. Sport has become an extremely sensitive topic in Iran since these protests, with several prominent Iranian sportswomen speaking out in favor of women’s rights. Famous footballers have also come under fire for comments about the move, such as soccer legend Ali Daei, who had his passport briefly confiscated.