Algerian Olympic boxer Imane Khelif has filed a criminal complaint for “aggravated cyber harassment” against tech mogul Elon Musk and famed author J.K. Rowling.
The complaint, filed last Friday in France, is reportedly part of a broader effort to address what Khelif’s legal team describes as a coordinated campaign of online harassment based on her gender. And now, former President Donald Trump might also be drawn into the legal fray.
Nabil Boudi, the gold medalist’s Paris-based attorney, wrote on X:
After the sporting time comes the legal time.
Fresh from winning a gold medal at the 2024 Paris Olympic Games, boxer Imane Khelif has decided to take on a new fight: that of justice, dignity and honor.
Ms. Khelif contacted the firm, which yesterday filed a complaint for aggravated cyber harassment with the Paris prosecutor’s office’s online hate unit.
The criminal investigation will determine who initiated this misogynistic, racist and sexist campaign. But will also have to look at those who fueled this digital lynching.
The unfair harassment suffered by the boxing champion will remain the biggest stain of these Olympic Games.
Communiqué de presse : Imane Khelif pic.twitter.com/LEdZTcIdU1
— Nabil Boudi (@BoudiNabil) August 10, 2024
According to Boudi, the complaint names several individuals, with Rowling and Musk prominently featured.
The filing in France allows for the investigation of “unknown parties,” a legal strategy that opens the door for prosecutors to examine a wide array of individuals potentially involved in the online harassment.
“J.K. Rowling and Elon Musk are named in the lawsuit, among others,” Boudi confirmed to Variety.
The complaint also hints at the possibility of involving President Trump.
“Trump tweeted, so whether or not he is named in our lawsuit, he will inevitably be looked into as part of the prosecution.”
Khelif, who recently secured a gold medal in the women’s 66-kilogram boxing event at the Paris Olympics, has become the center of controversy after the boxing bout between Italian Angela Carini and Khelif lasted only 46 seconds, with Carini dropping her helmet onto the floor while quitting and shouting, “This is unjust!”
The International Boxing Association (IBA) has made it clear that Khelif possesses competitive advantages over her female counterparts, a claim supported by rigorous testing protocols.
Imane Khelif of Algeria and Lin Yu-ting of Taiwan—both of whom are not ‘transgender’ but with male chromosomes—competed in the Tokyo Olympics in 2021 and have won medals at previous world boxing tournaments. However, last year, the International Boxing Association, the governing body for the sport, disqualified Khelif and Lin during the tournament.
“This disqualification was a result of their failure to meet the eligibility criteria for participating in the women’s competition, as set and laid out in the IBA Regulations. This decision, made after a meticulous review, was extremely important and necessary to uphold the level of fairness and utmost integrity of the competition,” the IBA said in its press release.
The IBA added, “Our Committees have rigorously reviewed and endorsed the decision made during the World Championships. While IBA remains committed to ensuring competitive fairness in all of our events, we express concern over the inconsistent application of eligibility criteria by other sporting organizations, including those overseeing the Olympic Games. The IOC’s differing regulations on these matters, in which IBA is not involved, raise serious questions about both competitive fairness and athletes’ safety.”
The disqualification was based on two tests conducted on both athletes as follows:
- Test performed during the IBA Women’s World Boxing Championships in Istanbul 2022.
- Test performed during the IBA Women’s World Boxing Championships in New Delhi 2023.
For clarification
- Lin Yu-ting did not appeal the IBA’s decision to the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS), thus rendering the decision legally binding.
- Imane Khelif initially appealed the decision to CAS but withdrew the appeal during the process, also making the IBA decision legally binding.
Istvan Kovacs, the European vice president of the World Boxing Organization (WBO), has publicly asserted that Algerian boxer Imane Khelif is biologically male.
Kovacs disclosed that he alerted the International Olympic Committee (IOC) about concerns regarding male participation in women’s boxing as early as 2022. Despite these warnings, he claims that no action was taken.
“The saddest thing in the story is that the problem was not with the level of Helif’s testosterone, because it can be adjusted nowadays, but with the result of the gender test, which clearly revealed that the Algerian boxer is biologically male,” he said.
In response to mounting criticism, the International Olympic Committee (IOC) issued a statement defending its position. “Every person has the right to practice sport without discrimination,” the committee said.
The IOC insisted that all athletes participating in the boxing tournament comply with eligibility regulations based on their passports and that these rules had been consistently applied during qualification events across various international competitions.
“The IOC is committed to protecting the human rights of all athletes participating in the Olympic Games as per the Olympic Charter, the IOC Code of Ethics and the IOC Strategic Framework on Human Rights. The IOC is saddened by the abuse that the two athletes are currently receiving,” IOC wrote.
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