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.
Young psychotherapist mom butchered inside home as cops scramble to find her killer
Empire State Building security under scrutiny after climbers’ stunt, tourist reveals possible access point
China-linked green group training US judges draws fresh heat as foreign ties fuel pressure at home
Mamdani gets roasted after telling sweltering New Yorkers to set ACs to 78 degrees: ‘Commie’
Thanks to Climate Panic, It’s 100 Degrees Inside a ‘Flagship’ Hospital Building – This Is What Leftists Want for Us (but Not Themselves)
WATCH: Trump Holds Conversation With AI Teddy Roosevelt, Gets Fresh Encouragement That He’s on the Right Path
America’s housing market could run out of something more important than homes
How Iran attacks are forcing the Pentagon to rethink its decades-old Middle East base strategy
Baby Beaten Nearly to Death by Children, 4 and 6, as Sitter Gives Most Nauseating Excuse We’ve Ever Heard
Ukraine’s 40-day missile and drone blitz heaps pressure and pain on Putin
DeSantis announces plans to use new state law to target dozens of alleged terrorist groups
Acting AG Todd Blanche says Newsom’s DOJ claims are not ‘grounded in fact’
Mexican national sentenced in border child smuggling case involving THC-laced candy
Virginia officer placed on administrative leave after malicious wounding charge tied to off duty incident
Two arrested at Costco after alleged fraudulent credit card shopping spree
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.
