French prosecutors investigate Khelif’s intimidation
French prosecutors have launched an investigation into a complaint by Algerian boxer and Olympic champion Imane Khelif alleging online harassment over her gender and presence at the Paris Games.
The Paris prosecutor’s office confirmed in an email that it had received a complaint from Khelif on Monday and referred the case to the OCLCH, the Central Office for the Fight against Crimes against Humanity and Hate Crimes. The OCLCH is investigating allegations of cyberbullying based on gender, public insult based on gender, public incitement to discrimination and public insult based on origin, the prosecutor’s office said.
The Associated Press reported that under French law it is up to the prosecutors to determine who is guilty.
OCLCH confirmed it was conducting the investigation, but said it could not provide a copy of the complaint “given the confidentiality of the investigation.”
On Sunday, Khelif’s lawyer, Nabil Boudi, said said in a statement on Instagram that his company had filed the complaint with the online hate unit of the Paris Public Prosecutor’s Office.
“This unfair intimidation of the boxing champion will remain the greatest stain on these Olympic Games,” he said.
Khelif, who won a gold medal on Friday, faced a flood of negative attention on social media during the Games. Her first bout in the 66-kilogram (145-pound) division ended abruptly when her opponent, Angela Carini of Italy, retired 46 seconds into the match after taking several hard punches from Khelif, including one to the nose that prompted Carini to complain that she couldn’t breathe properly.
Khelif was assigned female at birth, has always been identified as female on her legal documents, and the International Olympic Committee has repeatedly affirmed her qualifications to compete in the women’s division. But Carini’s quick admission drew attention to a decision by the International Boxing Association last year to disqualify Khelif and another boxer, Lin Yu-ting, from their world championships. (Lin won a gold medal in the women’s 126-pound featherweight division on Saturday night.)
GALLING DEEPER
Q&A: The Gender Controversy in Women’s Olympic Boxing
The IBA said Khelif and Lin had advantages over other women based on tests they took during their tournament. But it did not release details of the tests, and its officials publicly and messily backed out of a plan to share more specific results during the Games. The IOC, which rejected the IBA’s claims, said they had more to do with the IBA’s disorganization than its authority in women’s sports.
The blurt has divided sports fans and advocates around extremely sensitive topics like inclusion, fairness and the complex biology of sex, with scores of people online criticizing Khelif for making false claims.
Boudi called the rumors an “anti-woman, racist and sexist campaign.”
Required reading
(Photo: Ulrik Pedersen/DeFodi Images via Getty Images)
