Iranian woman climber competes without hijab amid protests

By HYUNG-JIN KIM and JON GAMBRELL
Associated Press

SEOUL (AP) — An Iranian female competitive climber has left South Korea after competing at an event in which she climbed without her nation’s mandatory headscarf covering. Farsi-language media outside of Iran have warned that she may have been forced to leave early by Iranian officials and could face arrest back home. The decision by climber Elnaz Rekabi comes as protests sparked by the September death of a 22-year-old woman detained by the country’s morality police have entered a fifth week. Iran’s Embassy in Seoul denied “all the fake, false news and disinformation” about Rekabi, but posted an image of her from Moscow wearing the hijab.