Imane Khelif at the medal ceremony of the women’s 66kg boxing final at the Olympics, August 9, 2024, Paris, France
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Ariana Cubillos/Copyright 2024 The AP. All rights reserved
French prosecutors have opened an investigation into a complaint of online harassment filed by Olympic boxing champion Imane Khelif after a barrage of criticism and false claims about her gender during the Olympics, the Paris prosecutor’s office said Monday.
The athlete’s lawyer, Nabil Boudi, filed a complaint on Friday with the special unit of the Paris prosecutor’s office responsible for combating hate speech on the Internet.
Mr Boudi said the boxer had been the target of a “misogynistic, racist and sexist campaign” despite winning gold in the women’s welterweight category, becoming a heroine in her native Algeria and drawing global attention to women’s boxing.
The prosecutor’s office said it had received the complaint and its office for combating crimes against humanity and hate crimes had opened an investigation into “gender-based cyberbullying, gender-based public insults, public incitement to discrimination and public insults based on origin. “
Imane Khelif found herself at the heart of a controversy over sexual identity and the regulation of the sport after her first fight in Paris, when her Italian opponent Angela Carini withdrew a few seconds into the fight, citing pain caused by the first punches.
False claims that Imane Khelif was transgender or a man have erupted online, and the International Olympic Committee has defended her and denounced those spreading misinformation. Imane Khelif has said that spreading misconceptions about her “undermines human dignity . ”
Donald Trump, Elon Musk and JK Rowling are among those who have spread misinformation about the athlete.
Imane Khelif’s complaint was filed against social media platforms, including X, rather than against a specific perpetrator, a common formulation in French law that leaves it up to investigators to determine the person or organization that may have committed the wrongdoing.
The Paris prosecutor’s office has not named any specific suspects.
The case comes two days after Imane Khelif returned to Algeria, where she is expected to meet President Abdelmadjid Tebboune and be welcomed by her family in her hometown of Ain Mesbah.
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