Imane Khelif, the Olympic boxing champion, has taken legal action in France against online harassment following numerous criticisms and false accusations about her gender during the Paris Olympics, as reported by her lawyer on Sunday.
She won the gold medal on Friday in the women’s welterweight division and has become a celebrated figure in her home country of Algeria, as well as gaining global attention for women’s boxing.
The complaint was submitted on Friday to a special unit in the Paris prosecutor’s office that deals with online hate speech. Khelif’s lawyer, Nabil Boudi, stated that the complaint is for “aggravated cyber-harassment” directed towards the boxer and described it as a “misogynistic, racist, and sexist campaign”. It is now up to the prosecutors to determine whether to launch an investigation.
As per French law, the complaint does not name a specific perpetrator, leaving it to the authorities to identify the responsible party. Khelif found herself caught in a worldwide debate over gender identity and regulations in sports after her first fight where her Italian opponent, Angela Carini, withdrew from the match after just a few seconds, citing pain from initial punches. False claims that Khelif was transgender or male quickly spread online, but the International Olympic Committee publicly supported her and denounced those spreading misinformation. Khelif expressed how these false claims have harmed her human dignity.
Earlier, Kirsty Burrows, an official from the IOC’s unit for safeguarding and mental health, also filed a complaint with the French authorities after receiving death threats and harassment online following a press conference in Paris where she defended Khelif. The Paris prosecutor’s office confirmed that they received Burrows’ complaint on August 4th and that the National Unit for the Fight against Online Hate is currently investigating the alleged offenses, including death threats, public provocations, and cyberbullying. According to French law, these crimes carry prison sentences of two to five years and fines ranging from 30,000 to 45,000 euros.
The International Boxing Association, banned from the Olympics, disqualified Khelif and fellow boxer Lin Yu-ting from the world championships last year, citing unspecified eligibility tests for women’s competition. The IOC has declared the arbitrary sex tests imposed on the two women by the sport’s governing body as fundamentally flawed and has supported both boxers since the beginning of the Paris Games.
Experts believe that the intense scrutiny faced by Khelif and Lin is a result of disproportionate scrutiny and discrimination towards female athletes of colour when it comes to sex testing and the false accusations of being male or transgender.
