iranian athlete without headscarf iranian prison piperno prison

Iran’s repression does not stop. There are more than 200 deaths and thousands of arrests in a month of protests against the obligation of the veil for women. And now we learn that the athlete Elnaz Rekabi, 33, will be imprisoned, in the same prison where the Italian Alessia Piperno is.

Rekabi, a climber, took part in a climbing competition in Seoul, the capital of South Korea, on Sunday (October 16), but she did so by avoiding wearing the veil, the hijab. The images of the young girl have made the rounds on social networks and we now learn that as soon as she returns to Iran the police will pick her up and transfer her to prison. In the notorious Evin prison in Tehran. The same in which she has been detained for a few weeks, for reasons that Iran has not clarified, is the Roman travel blogger Alessia Piperno, 30.

Elnaz Rekabi. Photo Ansa / South Korean State Television

According to IranWire, a site for Iranian dissident journalists, Reza Zarei, the head of the Iranian Climbing Federation, cheated on the athlete. And he took her from the hotel in Seoul to the Iranian embassy after receiving orders from the president of the Iranian Olympic Committee, Mohammad Khosravivafa. The latter acted at the request of the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps. It is unlikely that Elnaz Rekabi can now escape the sad fate that awaits him. That is to say, prison, for the sole fact of not having worn the veil on the head during the competition.

Iran and the veil requirement

In Iran, the hijab – the Islamic veil – is compulsory for women even in sports competitions and when representing their country abroad. “Elnaz had decided to perform without the hijab about a month ago and knew he would compete without the mandatory hijab,” a source told IranWire. The woman did not seek political asylum in Korea or other countries “because her husband is in Iran and wanted to come back after the competition. He always makes such bold decisions.”

All over the world, there are demonstrations of solidarity with Iranian women protesting. Photo Twitter @galatacla

Head of the Iranian Climbing Federation Reza Zarei, who was previously a member of the Ministry of Information, reportedly promised Elnaz Rekabi that if she gave him her passport and mobile phone, he would take her to Iran safely and without return. . But, says a source from IranWire, “we know what the embassies of the Islamic Republic are doing. They will take her directly to the airport and bring her back to Iran”. Where you are waiting, there will likely be a provision for immediate incarceration.

Hundreds of dead, even children

So far, at least 215 people, including 27 minors, have lost their lives since anti-government protests began in Iran. This was announced by the NGO Iran Human Rights, based in Oslo, Norway. This is the toll of Iranian police’s harsh crackdown on protests that erupted after the death of Mahsa Amini, the 22-year-old girl who died after being arrested by moral police in Tehran for not wearing the veil properly . .Islamic. But the women’s protests do not stop. On the contrary, they are multiplying and involving more and more men. On October 17, Iranian police arrested 880 people in the northern province of Gilan. This was announced by Hossein Hassanpour, deputy commander of the police force in the province, quoted by the Tasnim news agency.

Some of the teenagers killed during the protests in Iran. Photo Twitter @amnestyitalia