{"id":102944,"date":"2022-10-20T18:01:03","date_gmt":"2022-10-20T18:01:03","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/harchi90.com\/climber-elnaz-rekabi-cheered-at-iran-airport-after-hijab-incident-but-safety-still-in-question\/"},"modified":"2022-10-20T18:01:03","modified_gmt":"2022-10-20T18:01:03","slug":"climber-elnaz-rekabi-cheered-at-iran-airport-after-hijab-incident-but-safety-still-in-question","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/harchi90.com\/climber-elnaz-rekabi-cheered-at-iran-airport-after-hijab-incident-but-safety-still-in-question\/","title":{"rendered":"Climber Elnaz Rekabi cheered at Iran airport after hijab incident, but safety still in question"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Elnaz Rekabi, a 33-year-old Iranian professional rock climber who didn’t wear a hijab during a competition in South Korea, returned to her family in Iran despite reports she would be jailed for violating her country’s head-covering law for women. However, there are still concerns about her safety.<\/p>\n

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\u201cI came back to Iran with peace of mind although I had a lot of tension and stress,\u201d Rekabi told state-run news agencies <\/a>after she landed in Tehran. \u201cBut so far, thank god nothing has happened.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<\/div>\n

A large crowd received Rekabi at Imam Khomeini Airport in Tehran when she arrived Wednesday morning, according to the BBC. She was met with cheers of “Elnaz is a heroine” before reuniting with her family.<\/p>\n

Despite the warm reception, there remain a lot of questions about Rekabi’s well-being.<\/p>\n

Although the International Federation of Sport Climbing wrote in a statement they “received clear assurance that Ms. Rekabi will not suffer any consequences, her decision not to wear a hijab<\/a> during IFSC’s Asian Championships in Seoul, South Korea, is reportedly being investigated<\/a> by the government.<\/p>\n

This comes after she first said in an Instagram story<\/a> earlier this week and then when she landed in Tehran that her decision not to wear a hijab wasn’t an open act of defiance against the government but an “unintentional” mistake. (However, Iran has a history of airing forced confessions on state-run media over the past decade).<\/p>\n

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\u201cBecause I was busy putting on my shoes and my gear, it caused me to forget to put on my hijab and then I went to compete,\u201d she said upon her return.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<\/div>\n

Photos surfaced hours after each arrival of Rekabi with her brother, Davoud Rekabi, and Hamid Sajjadi, Iran’s Minister of Sports and Youth, and several other men. Rekabi also reportedly met with Iran’s National Olympic Committee president Mahmoud Khosravivafa, according to IranWire.<\/p>\n

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