Iranian authorities demolish home climber who competed without a hijab
Family home demolished
The family home of Iranian rock climber Elnaz Rekabi has been demolished, according to the news outlet IranWire, after she rose to international prominence this fall for competing with her head uncovered.
Photo: Global News
A destroyed house and medals on the ground
Footage shared on social media shows a destroyed structure and medals on the ground. Rekabi’s brother, Davood, who is also a champion climber, is seen crying.
Photo: Twitter @MaryamMoqaddam
“The result of living in this country”
The man filming the video, whose identity is unknown, says: “This is the result of living in this country. A champion with kilos of medals who worked hard to make this country proud. They pepper sprayed him, demolished his house and left”.
Competed without a hijab
Rekabi, 33 years-old, broke Iran's strict dress code by competing without a headscarf in South Korea. She later apologized in a TV state interview saying that she “forgot” her hijab.
A forced apology
According to BBC journalist Shayan Sardarizadeh, Rekabi was censured and forced into that apology by the Iranian regime.
In the picture, Rekabi in 2016.
“I forgot to wear my hijab”
Rekabi said in the state interview that she was “suddenly and unexpectedly called on to compete” while in the women's locker room. "I was busy wearing my shoes and fixing my equipment and forgot to wear my hijab, which I should have worn”, she said.
Photo: Youtube/SBS News
Strange language
BBC Persian's Rana Rahimpour said that to many people, the language used looked as though it had been written under threats.
Photo: Youtube/France 24
Other Iranian sportswomen have broken the hijab rule
Other Iranian sportswomen who have competed abroad without wearing a hijab in the past said they were pressured by Iranian authorities to issue similar apologies and some of them decided not to go back to Iran, according to Rahimpour.
Photo: Youtube/France 24
Hundreds of false confessions
British-Iranian actress Nazanin Boniadi told BBC World News: "When I saw the interview on state TV with Elnaz Rekabi, all I could think of was the hundreds and hundreds of false confessions that we are accustomed to seeing out of Iran”.
Quiet down dissident voices
Boniadi added that Iranian authorities use forced confessions to disprove any dissident voices.
Rekabi’s family lost contact with her
BBC Persian reported that a very reliable source told them that Rekabi's family and friends had lost contact with her after she said she was with an Iranian official.
Photo: Youtube/SBS News
Passport and mobile phone confiscated
There were also reports that her passport and mobile phone had been confiscated and that she had left her hotel in Seoul two days early.
Photo: Ashland Forouzani/Unsplash
Missing for days
There was a social media outburst about her disappearance and when she landed in Tehran days later, Iranians on social media claimed she was only alive because she went viral.
Photo: Twitter @chelseahartisme
Iranian embassy in Seoul denied any claims
The Iranian embassy in Seoul strongly denied what it called "all fake news, lies and false information" about her and said Rekabi had left Seoul after the Asian Championship ended.
A courageous act of civil disobedience
Hadi Ghaemi of the US-based Center for Human Rights in Iran said Rekabi "risked her freedom and safety and has since been under extreme pressure by the government to cover up her courageous act of civil disobedience".
Stand with Rekabi
"It is now the responsibility of all people who support women's and human rights to stand with her and not let the government in Iran cover up the true story," Ghaemi added.
A new symbol of anti-regime protests
A large crowd at Tehran airport greeted Rekabi at 5 am, who was hailed as a new symbol of the anti-government protests led by women in Iran after the video of her at the Asian Championships went viral.
Photo: Twitter @Shayan86
233 protesters killed
At least 233 protesters have been killed by authorities since demonstrations erupted in Iran on September 17, according to U.S.-based rights monitor HRANA (Human Rights Activists News Agency).
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