A large crowd at Tehran airport greeted an Iranian sport climber who competed without a headscarf at a competition in South Korea, calling her a “heroine”.
Elnaz Rekabi, 33, broke Iran’s strict dress code – but later said her hijab had fallen off “inadvertently”.
Many are sceptical about the reason she gave in an Instagram post and repeated in a state TV interview at the airport, believing it was made under duress.
Ms Rekabi flew in from South Korea before dawn on Wednesday, where she had been competing at the IFSC Asian Championships.
Her family met her at the airport, where she was hugged and handed several bunches of flowers. She covered her hair with a black baseball cap and hoodie.
State media later broadcast an interview with Ms Rekabi, in which she repeated the explanation she had given in an Instagram post for climbing with her hair uncovered.
“I was suddenly and unexpectedly called on to compete while I was at the women’s locker room,” she said.
“I was busy wearing my shoes and fixing my equipment and forgot to wear my hijab, which I should have worn.”
Ms Rekabi said there had been “some extreme reactions” to the video of her appearance sporting a ponytail, and that she was “feeling stressed and tense”.
“Thank goodness, I’ve returned to Iran in good health and safe. And I apologise to the Iranian people for the overcrowding that took place upon my return as it got very busy,” she added in an apparent reference to the supporters gathered outside.
She also denied reports that she had been out of contact with her family and friends, and that she had left South Korea earlier than scheduled.
“That didn’t happen. We’ve returned to Iran exactly as planned,” she stated.
After similar comments were posted on Ms Rekabi’s Instagram account on Tuesday afternoon, BBC Persian’s Rana Rahimpour said that to many people the language used looked like it had been written under duress.
Other Iranian sportswomen who have competed abroad without wearing a headscarf in the past have said they came under pressure from Iranian authorities to issue similar apologies, she added. Some of them decided not to go back to Iran.
Many former detainees have also said that they were forced by security forces to make false “confessions” that were aired by Iranian state TV.
(Source BBC)
