'Missing' Iranian climber breaks her silence amid hijab furore

An Iranian professional climber has broken her silence after fears emerged that she had gone "missing" as a result of not wearing a hijab during a recent competition.

Elnaz Rekabi "inadvertently" competed without her head being covered during the International Federation of Sport Climbing’s Asian Championships in Seoul over the weekend.

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The 33-year-old was initially praised for apparently defying Iran's strict dress code for women, however, fears grew for the climber when her whereabouts became unknown after the competition.

The BBC reported on Monday that friends had been unable to get hold of Rekabi, sparking concerns she was being held against her will.

On Tuesday though, the Iranian posted a message on Instagram to apologise for "getting everybody worried" and indicated that she was on her way home from Seoul.

In the Instagram post, she explained that her hijab had accidentally come off while competing, and was not an intentional move from the climber.

"Due to bad timing, and the unanticipated call for me to climb the wall, my head covering inadvertently came off," she explained.

In the post, Rekabi went on to explain that she was on her way back to Iran "alongside the team based on the pre-arranged schedule".

BBC Persian's Rana Rahimpour told the news organisation that the language used in the post seemed like the message had been made under duress.

Rahimpour says other Iranian women who have competed overseas without wearing a hijab have come under similar pressure from Iranian authorities to issue similar apologies.

It comes after IranWire, a news outlet founded by Iranian-Canadian journalist Maziar Bahari in 2014, reported that Rekabi was "tricked" into entering the Iranian embassy building in Seoul by Reza Zarei, the head of Iran's Climbing Federation, on the orders of Mohammad Khosravivafa, Iran's Olympic Committee chairman, in order to more easily bring her back to Iran.

However, the Iranian embassy tweeted it "strongly denies all fake news, lies and false information" regarding Rekabi's situation.

The International Federation of Sport Climbing (IFSC) also released a statement Tuesday morning acknowledging Rekabi's travel plans and also stated their support of athlete safety and the right to free speech.

Elnaz Rekabi appeared to defy Iranian law

"There is a lot of information in the public sphere regarding Ms Rekabi and as an organisation we have been trying to establish the facts," the IFSC wrote. "We have also been in contact with Ms Rekabi and the Iranian Climbing Federation.

"Our understanding is that she is returning to Iran, and we will continue to monitor the situation as it develops on her arrival.

"It is important to stress that athletes' safety is paramount for us and we support any efforts to keep a valued member of our community safe in this situation.

Rekabi recently won bronze in the women's combined event at the 2021 IFSC Climbing World Championships in Moscow. She's won three other medials since 2013 at various Asian Championship events.

Rekabi appeared to defy Iranian law which requires women to wear a headscarf covering at all times in public when she didn't don a hijab in Seoul.

The climber has worn a hijab during other events, including her earlier appearances in Seoul, but said not wearing one on Sunday was "unintentional."

Instead, she wore a black headband with her hair in a ponytail.

The event did not have rules requiring athletes from wearing headscarves. In a 2016 interview with Euronews, Rekabi said that wearing a hijab could be "a problem" when it gets too hot but that her team created an outfit "that respects the hijab and is compatible with practicing the sport of climbing."

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