A new episode of retaliation has been carried out against Elnaz Rekabi, the Iranian athlete who, at the Seoul international climbing competitions last October, had disobeyed the restrictions of the Islamic Republic by competing without a hijiab.
According to the pro-reform news outlet IranWire, and reported by CNN, the home of the climber’s family was demolished by government officials. The images released show the house destroyed and the medals thrown on the ground.
Also seen near the desolation of the reactionary fury is the athlete’s brother, Davood, in tears.
The television station close to the opposition “Iran International”, based in London, had defined Rekabi’s gesture as “historic” last October: a protest action under the eyes of the whole world while in Iran they had already been going on for over five weeks protests for the death of Mahsa Amini, the 22-year-old of Kurdish origin who died on September 16 after being arrested by the morality police for not wearing the veil correctly.
The climber, born in 1989, bronze at the World Championships in Moscow in 2021, had finished in ninth place and had come very close to the finals of the Asian Games.
On her return to Tehran on October 21, the BBC reported that the champion, despite a triumphant return, had been forced home under “unofficial” house arrest.
