After her protest at a competition in Seoul, Elnas Rekabi disappeared without a trace.
Iran’s climbing champion Elnas Rekabi broke a taboo in the final of the Asian Championships in Seoul. The athlete took off the headscarf that is obligatory for Iranian athletes and caused a scandal in her home country. Now Rekabi has disappeared without a trace.
BREAKING: Iranian athlete Elnaz Rekabi, who went viral after refusing to wear a headscarf while competing in Seoul, had her phone and passport confiscated. Her current status is unknown – BBC pic.twitter.com/QxiRXEQHXp
— BNO News (@BNONews) October 17, 2022
As the BBC reports, the climber’s pass and cell phone were taken away immediately after the competition, and now she is said to have disappeared completely. “No contact with Elnaz Rekabi,” writes journalist Natalie Amir on Twitter. “Relatives cannot reach them. The BBC have contacted the hotels where the athletes were staying but they were checked out this morning.”
No contact to #ElnazRekabi – Female athlete who was without a headscarf for yesterday #Iran s national team in bouldering. Relatives cannot reach her. The BBC have contacted the hotels where the athletes were staying but they were checked out this morning. https://t.co/6ZwQVfStbO pic.twitter.com/NzmAyP4bMg
— Natalie Amiri (@NatalieAmiri) October 17, 2022
Women’s protests in Iran
Since the 1979 Islamic revolution, Iranian women have been required to wear headscarves and long jackets in public to hide their hair and body contours. This law also applies to all female athletes in the Islamic country, especially in competitions abroad.
Accordingly, Rekabi would have clearly violated the headscarf law. According to observers, her action in Seoul was also to be seen in connection with the ongoing women’s protests against compulsory headscarves in Iran, as a signal of her solidarity with the women’s movement.
The protests were triggered by the still unsolved death of 22-year-old Mahsa Amini in police custody. The young woman was arrested by the moral police last month because her headscarf had slipped slightly and a few strands of hair were visible.