An announcement had appeared on the 33-year-old athlete’s Instagram account Tuesday, explaining that she had appeared and not using a headband on the competitors by mistake.
The stilted message raised additional fears for her security amongst Iranian rights teams based mostly overseas, who say that Iran routinely extracts false confessions from activists, protesters and detainees.
A few of that concern turned to pleasure as Rekabi returned to Iran within the early hours of Wednesday, with movies shared on social media displaying cheering crowds ready exterior the capital’s Imam Khomeini Worldwide Airport, chanting the athlete’s identify and hailing her as a “hero.”
In an interview with Iranian state information company IRNA from contained in the terminal, Rekabi appeared nervous. Along with her head lined with a baseball cap and a hood, she echoed the reason given in her Instagram story {that a} last-minute name to compete had prompted her to neglect to placed on her headband.
“I’ve returned to Iran in full well being,” she mentioned, and provided an apology “to the individuals of Iran” over the incident.
She additionally said that she had traveled again to Iran as deliberate — in an obvious response to experiences that she had left South Korea a day sooner than scheduled, with activists fearing for her security as BBC Persian reported that her pals had been unable to contact her. Rekabi added that mentioned she meant to proceed competing for Iran.
Iran’s embassy in Seoul beforehand responded to the worldwide consideration on Rekabi by expressing its opposition to “all of the faux, false information and disinformation” surrounding the athlete’s destiny.
Rekabi had completed in fourth place within the Mixed Boulder and Lead remaining of the current Worldwide Federation of Sport Climbing (IFSC) Asian Championships.
In earlier competitions, Rekabi has at all times appeared with the headband, which is necessary for each ladies inside Iran and feminine athletes representing the nation internationally.
Rivals who didn’t adjust to the necessary hijab previously have issued apologies or remained overseas.
The unrest over the problem of necessary veiling for ladies has come to represent wider anger in opposition to the Iranian authorities and has been met with a violent crackdown by authorities.
A lot of these demonstrations have turned violent, with some 240 individuals, together with 32 kids, killed for the reason that unrest started in September, in keeping with US-based Iranian rights teams HRANA.
