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Iranian competitive climber Elnaz Rekabi has received a hero's welcome on her return to Tehran after competing in South Korea without wearing a mandatory headscarf required of female athletes from the Islamic Republic.
Key points:
- It's unclear where she went after leaving the cheering crowd at the airport
- She apologised for "getting everyone worried" before flying home to Iran
- The BBC reported Elnaz Rekabi left South Korea a day earlier than scheduled
Video shared online showed large crowds gathered early on Wednesday (local time) at Imam Khomeini International Airport outside of Tehran.
The videos, corresponding to known features of the airport, showed crowds chanting the 33-year-old Rekabi's name and calling her a hero.
She 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, a multiple medallist, described being in a women's-only waiting area prior to her climb.
"Because I was busy putting on my shoes and my gear, it caused me to forget to put on my hijab and then I went to compete," she said.
She added: "I came back to Iran with peace of mind although I had a lot of tension and stress. But so far, thank God, nothing has happened."
Outside, she apparently entered a van and slowly was driven through the gathered crowd, who cheered her.
It wasn't clear where she went after that.
Hijab had 'inadvertently' fallen off
Before returning to Iran, Rekabi said in a post on her Instagram story on Tuesday that she competed without a hair covering because her hijab had "inadvertently" fallen off during the competition.
In the Instagram story, she apologised for "getting everybody worried".
"Due to bad timing, and the unanticipated call for me to climb the wall, my head covering inadvertently came off," the story said, according to a translation from the BBC.
It said that she would be flying home to Iran "alongside the team based on the pre-arranged schedule"
It is not clear whether the post was written under duress.
Rekabi's display without a hijab came as protests rang out across Iran against the death of Mahsa Amini, who was detained by the country's morality police over her clothing and died in custody.
The demonstrations, drawing a range of Iranians, represent the most serious challenge to Iran's theocracy since the mass protests surrounding its disputed 2009 presidential election.
Human rights groups say hundreds of people have been killed as security forces crack down on the protests.
The BBC, quoting unnamed "informed source", reported that Rekabi's mobile phone and passport were seized and her friends were unable to contact her since she competed.
Rekabi left Seoul on a Tuesday morning flight, the Iranian embassy in South Korea said, although she was initially scheduled to return on Wednesday, according to BBC Persian.
IranWire alleged that Rekabi would be transferred to Tehran's notorious Evin Prison — which was the site of a massive fire this week that killed eight prisoners — after arriving in the country.
In a tweet, the Iranian embassy in Seoul denied "all the fake, false news and disinformation" regarding Rekabi's departure on Tuesday.
But instead of posting a photo of her from the Seoul competition, it posted an image of her wearing a headscarf at a previous competition in Moscow, where she also took a bronze medal.
ABC/AP