If you aren’t living under a rock, I am certain you must have heard of all the protests going on in Iran regarding the hijab mandate. However, the mandate is not only limited to the borders but also beyond them. After making the decision to not wear her hijab while competing in the Asian Championships in South Korea, rock climber Elnaz Rekabi will probably be getting arrested for violating Iranian laws. However, amidst the process, she has been showered with support.
A South Korean news outlet has reported that an Iranian rock climber who competed in South Korea while not wearing a headscarf may go to prison. In contrast to Iranian law, which mandates that women wear head coverings when competing, Elnaz Rekabi, 33, made waves on Sunday during the Asian Championships climbing competition in Seoul by competing without one.
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Rekabi’s climb was captured on camera, and many people commented on social media that her presence was probably an “act of defiance” against the rule. Rekabi and her team arrived back in Iran on Tuesday. Rekabi will be imprisoned by the authorities upon her return to the nation. According to a representative of the International Federation of Sport Climbing, they were “informed” of Rekabi’s plight. An IFSC statement said that there is a lot of material on Rekabi in the public domain and their organisation has been working to establish the facts. The representative further added that the Iranian Climbing Federation and Rekabi have also been in touch with them and they will continue to monitor the situation as it changes upon her arrival.
Rekabi decided not to compete on Sunday while donning the hijab amidst protests prompted by the death of a 22-year-old woman in prison on September 16 are now in their fifth week. The nation’s morality police jailed Mahsa Amini for her attire, and since her passing, women have stopped wearing obligatory hijabs in public. The protests, which brought school-age children, oil employees, and others to the streets in more than 100 towns, pose the most significant threat to Iran’s theocracy since the widespread rallies that followed its contentious 2009 presidential election.
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Large throngs were seen assembling early on Wednesday at Imam Khomeini International Airport outside of Tehran, which serves as the major exit point for the sanctioned country. The films, which matched well-known airport characteristics, showed crowds praising Rekabi and singing her name. She entered an airport terminal while being seen on video by state television, with her hair covered by a black sweatshirt and a baseball cap. After receiving flowers from a passerby, she reiterated what had been written on Instagram, claiming that she had not been wearing the hijab “intentionally” and that her travel had gone according to schedule. The athlete’s friends were unable to reach her after Sunday night and her phone was seized from her, raising questions about her safety.