A large crowd gathers outside the Tehran International Airport to greet Iranian athlete Elnaz Rekabi and give her a warm welcome.
The 33-year old rock climber defied the mandatory Iranian dress code while competing in the Asian Championship held in Seoul, South Korea.
She later commented that her hijab had fallen from her hair unknowingly.
Protests are ongoing across Iran against the strict and mandatory hijab law and the religious regime that has ruled the nation since the Iranian Revolution of 1979.
Women in Iran are required to cover their hair with a hijab and their arms and legs with loose clothing. Female athletes who are officially competing for Iran in events held abroad are also required to adhere to the dress code.
When Ms. Rekhabi flew home to Tehran on Wednesday from South Korea, she was welcomed by her family and several bouquets of flowers were handed to her and hugged.
Videos of her arrival flooded social media in which scores of supporters were seen chanting that she was a heroine and clapping.
Elnaz has become a new symbol of the Iranian protests, which are predominantly led by women, after a video of her was released online competing in the Asian Championship without wearing a hijab or covering her hair. This also raised concerns over her safety as neither her family nor her friends could get in touch with her.
In a social media post on Tuesday, she apologised for “getting everyone worried” and said that she was called to climb without any prior notice and her hijab came off “inadvertently”.
In an interview with the state media, he repeated her comments and stated that she was “tense” to return home to Tehran.
Her present whereabouts are unknown.
Iranian athletes who compete in competitions abroad without wearing a hijab are required to make a similar apology when they return to the country, while others choose not to return to their home country.
In an Instagram post, Elnaz said that she intends to return to Iran “along with her team based on the pre-arranged schedule”.
The ongoing protests resulted because of the death of a 22-year old Kurdish woman, Masa Amini, who was arrested by Iran’s morality police for not covering her hair in a proper manner on the 13th of September.
Sources say that she was brutally beaten by the police, while the authorities say that her death was caused by a heart attack.
A source revealed that Miss Rekabi’s passport and phone were confiscated by the Iranian officials and that she vacated her hotel room two days before the day she intended to and her family and friends were not able to contact her.
The International Federation of Sport Climbing (IFSC) has contacted the Iranian Climbing Federation to find out about Miss Rekabi’s current status and stressed that the athlete’s safety and their “choices of and expression of free speech” are fully supported by the IFSC.
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