Iranian Rock Climber Who Competed Abroad Without Hijab Goes Missing During Return to Tehran

A female Iranian athlete who competed without a hijab at a climbing competition in South Korea has gone missing. The family and friends of Elnaz Rekabi said on Tuesday that they lost contact with the rock climber after she told them she was with an Iranian official, amid fears that she would be taken to prison upon her return. Meanwhile, the Iranian embassy on South Korea said on Tuesday that Rekabi had flown back to Tehran. The embassy statement said that “the embassy of the Islamic Republic of Iran in South Korea strongly denies all fake news, lies and false information about Ms. Elnaz Rekabi.”  BBC Persian service reported, citing “well-informed sources,” that Rekabi’s passport and cellphone had been confiscated. A post on an Instagram account said to be Rekabi’s in a first-person statement described climbing without wearing a hijab as “unintentional,” saying she was called last minute to her climb, and apologizing “for all the concerns I have caused.” Rekabi, who won one silver and two bronze medals at the International Federation of Sport Climbing’s Asia Championship in Seoul, wore a hijab for most of the week-long competition, but did not put on the hair covering for the final on Sunday, opting instead to wear her hear in a pony tail, with a black headband. The incident comes as Iran is in its fifth week of protests in the wake of the death on September 16 of a woman in the custody of the Islamic Republic’s morality police for not wearing a hijab properly.