The Iranian climber rose to global fame in October when she climbed without a headscarf at the Asian Championships in Seoul. Since then, the Iranian woman has been under house arrest and the repression against her and those around her continues: According to the latest media reports, the Iranian regime destroyed the family home.
A video has been circulating on social media showing a destroyed house in Zanjan province in north-western Iran. According to the Iranwire news platform, this house, or what is left of it, is the family home of the 33-year-old climber Elnaz Rekabi.
Last month Iranian police demolished a house which belonged to #Elnaz_Rekabi's brother, BBC Persian has learned.
- Parham Ghobadi (@BBCParham) December 1, 2022
Iranian climber Elnaz Rekabi competed without a headscarf at a contest in South Korea in Oct.
She was forced to apologize.
Davood, Elnaz's brother, is also a climber pic.twitter.com/R6xL62Hefx
The authorities do not deny the destruction of the house, but deny any connection with Rekabi's performance in Seoul. According to the state news agency Tasnim the house was built illegally and therefore demolished in June of this year.
Two well-known Iranian climbers also joined the discussion on social media: Farnaz Esmaeilzedah and Nasim Eshqi. You both talk about fake news.
Nasim Eshqi writes that the destruction of the illegally built villa has nothing to do with her revolution. In her eyes, this manipulated news had only one goal: "to divert the focus of the media from the mass murders and silent executions in Iranian prisons."
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Credits: Cover picture Elnaz Rekabi