Iranian climber who competed without a hijab met by jubilant crowds in Tehran

The Iranian competitive climber Elnaz Rekabi has received a jubilant welcome on her return to Tehran, after competing in South Korea without wearing a headscarf as required of female athletes from the Islamic Republic.

Video shared online showed large crowds gathered early on Wednesday at Imam Khomeini international airport outside Tehran. The videos showed crowds chanting the 33-year-old Rekabi’s name and calling her a hero.

The furore over Rekabi competing on Sunday without a hijab came as protests sparked by the death in custody on 16 September of a 22-year-old woman entered a fifth week. Mahsa Amini was detained by the country’s morality police over her clothing and her death has led to women removing their mandatory hijabs in public.

The demonstrations represent the most-serious challenge to Iran’s theocracy since the mass protests surrounding its disputed 2009 presidential election.

Friends and supporters raised concerns over Rekabi’s safety after she competed without the hijab.

An Instagram post on an account attributed to Rekabi described her not wearing a hijab as “unintentional”, though it was not immediately clear whether she wrote the post or what condition she was in at the time. The Iranian government routinely pressures activists at home and abroad, often airing what rights groups describe as coerced confessions on state television.

On Wednesday morning, Rekabi walked into one of the airport’s terminals, filmed by state television cameras and wearing a black baseball cap and a black hoodie covering her hair. She received flowers from an onlooker, and then repeated what had been posted on Instagram, that not wearing the hijab was “unintentional” and her travel had been as previously planned.

Rekabi