FRANCE HAS LAUNCHED a cyberbullying probe following a complaint by Algerian Olympic boxing champion Imane Khelif, who was at the centre of a gender controversy at the Paris Olympic Games.
The controversy has rapidly become a hot-button issue outside the ring, with politicians and celebrities including Donald Trump and Elon Musk weighing in.
The investigation was opened Tuesday into “cyberharassment” following the high-profile gender row at the Games, the Paris public prosecutor’s office said on Wednesday.
The athlete’s lawyer Nabil Boudi said last week that Khelif, 25, had filed a complaint for online harassment, calling it a “fight for justice.”
“The investigation will determine who was behind this misogynist, racist and sexist campaign, but will also have to concern itself with those who fed the online lynching,” he said at the time.
The Central Office for Combating Crimes against Humanity and Hate Crimes has been tasked with the investigation.
According to US magazine Variety, billionaire entrepreneur Musk and Harry Potter author JK Rowling have been named in the complaint.
Former US President Trump, who is the Republican party’s nominee in the 2024 presidential race, would also be part of the investigation, Variety said, citing the lawyer.
Khelif won the women’s 66kg final against China’s Yang Liu in a unanimous points decision, having been the focus of intense scrutiny in the French capital during the Olympics.
Together with Taiwan’s Lin Yu-ting, who won the 57kg women’s final, Khelif was disqualified by the International Boxing Association (IBA) from last year’s world championships after they reportedly failed gender eligibility testing.
However they were cleared by the International Olympic Committee (IOC) to compete in Paris, setting the stage for one of the biggest controversies of the Games.
Khelif said she is “a woman like any other”.
“I was born a woman, lived a woman and competed as a woman,” she told reporters about her eligibility.
“They hate me and I don’t know why,” she said of the IBA.
On Monday, Khelif received a hero’s welcome at Algiers airport, with crowds cheering the boxer with chants of “Tahia Imane” (Long live Imane).
