French prosecutors investigate harassment of Khelif

French prosecutors opened an investigation into a complaint made by Algerian boxer and Olympic gold medalist Imane Khelif about online harassment over her gender and presence at the Paris Games.

The Paris public prosecutor’s office confirmed in an email that it received a complaint from Khelif on Monday and referred the matter to the OCLCH, the Central Office for Combating Crimes against Humanity and Hate Crimes. The OCLCH is investigating charges of cyberbullying based on gender, public insult based on gender, public provocation to discrimination and public insult based on origin, the prosecutor’s office said.

The Associated Press reported that under French law, it would be up to prosecutors to decide who might be at fault.

The OCLCH confirmed it is responsible for the investigation but said it could not provide a copy of the complaint “in view of the confidentiality of the investigation.”

On Sunday, Khelif’s lawyer, Nabil Boudi, said in a statement on Instagram that his firm had filed the complaint with the online hate unit of the Paris prosecutor’s office.

“This unfair harassment suffered by the boxing champion will remain the biggest stain of these Olympic Games,” he said.

Khelif, who won a gold medal Friday, faced a torrent of negative attention on social media throughout the Games. Her first bout in the 66-kilogram (145-pound) division ended abruptly when her opponent, Angela Carini of Italy, quit within 46 seconds after squarely taking some hard punches from Khelif, including one to the nose that left Carini complaining that she couldn’t properly breathe.

Khelif was assigned female at birth, has always been identified on her legal documents as a woman and the International Olympic Committee has repeatedly affirmed her qualifications to compete in a women’s division. But Carini’s quick concession drew attention to a decision by the International Boxing Association last year to disqualify Khelif and another boxer, Lin Yu-ting, from its world championships. (Lin won a gold medal Saturday night in the women’s 126-pound featherweight division.)

The IBA said Khelif and Lin had advantages over other women, based on tests it administered during its tournament. But it did not release details of the tests and its officials publicly and messily retreated from a plan to share more specific results during the Games. The IOC, in rejecting the IBA’s assertions, said they reflected more on the IBA’s disorganization than its authority in women’s sports.

The flap stoked discord among sports fans and advocates surrounding extremely touchy topics of inclusion, fairness and the complex biology of sex. Numerous people online criticized Khelif with incorrect assertions.

Boudi called the chatter a “misogynistic, racist and sexist campaign.”

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(Photo: Ulrik Pedersen / DeFodi Images via Getty Images)