A rubble-strewn patch of ground is all that is left of the family home of the Iranian climber who infuriated officials in the Islamic Republic by forgoing her hijab while competing abroad.
The clip shows a stash of sports medals on the ground, and athlete Elnaz Rekabi’s brother Davood can be seen walking past in tears.
Rekabi, 33, hit headlines when she took part in the 2022 IFSC Climbing Asian Championships in Seoul, South Korea, in October without a headscarf.
The young woman’s act is widely believed to have been a sign of support for anti-regime protests in her home country in the wake of 22-year-old Mahsa Amini’s violent death at the hands of morality police.
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Rekabi was summoned back to Iran, where she apologised for the act, claiming her headscarf had fallen off accidentally. It is widely believed that the confession was forced.
And now a video apparently showing the ruins of her family home after it was allegedly demolished by Iranian officials has been doing the rounds online.
Tasnim News Agency – which has links to the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps – confirmed the athlete’s home had been razed.
It claimed it had been demolished because the family had not obtained the necessary permit for its construction.
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Tasnim also claimed that the property had been levelled before Rekabi competed abroad. However, it is not clear when the footage was filmed.
Rekabi is believed to be only the second female athlete from Iran to contravene mandatory hijab laws during a public competition, after boxer Sadaf Khadem in 2019.