French prosecutors have opened an investigation into a complaint by Algerian boxer and Olympic gold medalist Imane Khelif about online harassment due to her gender and attendance 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 Combating of Crimes against Humanity and Hate Crimes. The OCLCH investigates allegations of cyberbullying based on gender, public insult based on gender, public incitement of discrimination and public insult based on origin, according to the Public Prosecution Service.
This is reported by the Associated Press that under French law it would be up to prosecutors to decide who might be guilty.
The OCLCH confirmed that it is responsible for 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 biggest stain on these Olympic Games,” he said.
Khelif, who won a gold medal on Friday, faced a barrage of negative attention on social media during the Games. Her first fight in the 66 kilograms (145 pounds) division ended abruptly when her opponent, Angela Carini of Italy, quit within 46 seconds after taking several hard punches from Khelif, including one to the nose that left Carini complaining that she couldn’t . not breathing properly.
Khelif was assigned female at birth, has always been identified as female on her legal documents, and the International Olympic Committee has repeatedly confirmed her qualifications to compete in a women’s division. But Carini’s quick concession drew attention to a decision by the International Boxing Association last year to disqualify Khelif and another boxer, Lin Yu-ting, from the world championships. (Lin won a gold medal in the women’s 126-pound featherweight division on Saturday night.)
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The IBA said Khelif and Lin had advantages over other women based on tests they took during the tournament. But the organization did not release details of the testing and its officials publicly and sloppily backed away from a plan to share more specific results during the Games. The IOC, in rejecting the IBA’s claims, has said it is thinking more about the IBA’s disorganization than its authority in women’s sport.
The flap sparked controversy among sports fans and advocates around highly sensitive topics like inclusivity, fairness and the complex biology of sex. Numerous people criticized Khelif online with incorrect claims.
Boudi called the chatter a “misogynistic, racist and sexist campaign.”
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(Photo: Ulrik Pedersen/DeFodi Images via Getty Images)