DUBAI, United Arab Emirates — Iran’s only female Olympic medalist said she defected from the Islamic Republic in a blistering online letter that describes herself as “one of the millions of oppressed women in Iran.”
Taekwondo athlete Kimia Alizadeh posted the letter on Instagram as semiofficial Iranian news agency ISNA said she had fled to the Netherlands. She criticized wearing the mandatory hijab headscarf and accused officials in Iran of sexism and mistreatment.
“Whatever they said, I wore,” Alizadeh wrote in the letter posted Saturday. “Every sentence they ordered, I repeated.”
She described the decision to leave Iran as difficult but necessary.
Armed Citizens Stop Supermarket Shooter In Missouri
New Declassified Docs Give Tulsi Gabbard The Last Laugh On Ukrainian Biolabs
Obama Presidential Center’s $470M safety net under scrutiny as subcontractors say they’re owed millions
Trump picks James McDonald to lead powerful Southern District of New York after Jay Clayton’s departure
Texas GOP convention’s live elephant steals the show — for all the wrong reasons
Multiple people wounded in shooting at South Carolina’s largest mall, authorities detain suspects
Helicopter footage captures Florida man allegedly abandoning child during high-speed chase from deputies
Death threats from ‘TDS’ song show it’s ‘about the right thing’: Natasha Owens
Workers rip Trump name from Kennedy center facade months after it goes on, hours after failed appeal
US opens its home World Cup with a dynamic 4-1 victory over Paraguay, sparked by Balogun’s 2 goals
Lib Mayor Defends ‘Violence Intervention’ Activists After Yet Another Gets Arrested
Major Car Maker Issues Recall Over Engine Issue That Could Make Vehicle Stall
EXCLUSIVE: Collins pits record built in Maine potato fields against Platner’s ‘angry rhetoric’
Why This Tech Company Wants to Release 32 Million Mosquitos Into the US
Kennedy Center takes down Trump’s name: Photos
There was no immediate reaction from Iranian authorities. ISNA said Alizadeh had been reported injured and unable to compete. Its report suggested Alizadeh might try to compete under another nation’s flag at the 2020 Olympic games in Tokyo.
Alizadeh, 21, won a bronze medal at the 2016 Olympics in Rio de Janeiro.
Her defection comes amid unprecedentedly high tensions between Iran and the United States.
In recent years, many Iranian athletes have left their country, citing government pressure. In September, Saeid Mollaei, an Iranian judoka, left the country for Germany. He said Iranian officials had forced him to not compete with Israeli judoka.
Alireza Faghani, an Iranian international soccer referee, also left Iran last year, for Australia.
Story cited here.
