Followers cheer, clap as climber returns to Iran By Reuters

DUBAI (Reuters) -Iranian climber Elnaz Rekabi, who brought about controversy by competing in a world contest with out a headband, has returned to Iran to cheering supporters, reiterating in feedback to state media she had climbed with out a hijab unintentionally.

Footage had proven Rekabi, 33, scaling a wall with out her head coated whereas competing in South Korea whereas representing Iran, which has been swept by protests ignited by Mahsa Amini’s loss of life in morality police custody.

In feedback to state TV upon her arrival in Tehran, Rekabi mentioned she had returned in “full well being” and apologised to “the folks of Iran for the turbulence and fear that I created”, her head coated by a baseball cap and a hood as she spoke.

“The battle that I had with carrying my footwear and getting ready my gear made me overlook concerning the correct hijab that I ought to have had, and I went to the wall and ascended,” she added.

A crowd of well-wishers cheered, clapped and recorded the scene on cellphones as she was pushed away from the airport, in keeping with footage posted on Twitter.

In an announcement printed on her Instagram account on Tuesday, Rekabi cited poor scheduling as the rationale she had competed with out a headband, saying she had been known as to climb unexpectedly.

In her televised feedback Rekabi, who got here fourth within the competitors, denied she had been unreachable for 48 hours, and mentioned the group had returned to Iran as deliberate. She mentioned she had no plan to give up the nationwide group.

BBC Persian had reported on Tuesday that associates had been unable to contact her, and there have been fears for her security. Iran’s embassy in South Korea, on Twitter, denied studies about her going lacking after the competitors.

Amini died final month whereas within the custody of the Islamic Republic’s morality police who detained her for “inappropriate apparel”, prompting nationwide protests throughout which girls have eliminated and burned headscarves.

The protests ignited by Amini’s loss of life have grown into one of many boldest challenges to the Islamic Republic because the 1979 revolution, although the unrest doesn’t seem near toppling the system.