France launches probe over alleged cyberbullying of Olympic gender-row boxer Khelif

Algeria's Imane Khelif prepares to fight China's Yang Liu in their women's 66 kg final boxing match at the 2024 Summer Olympics, Aug. 9, 2024, in Paris, France. (AP)
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PARIS: France has launched a cyberbullying probe following a complaint by Algerian Olympic boxing champion Imane Khelif, who was at the center of a gender controversy at the Paris Olympic Games, prosecutors said on Wednesday.
The investigation was opened Tuesday into 鈥渃yberharrassment鈥� following the high-profile gender row at the Games, the Paris public prosecutor鈥檚 office told AFP.
The athlete鈥檚 lawyer Nabil Boudi said last week that Khelif, 25, had filed a complaint for online harassment, calling it a 鈥渇ight for justice.鈥�
鈥淭he 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,鈥� he said at the time.
Khelif won the women鈥檚 66kg final against China鈥檚 Yang Liu in a unanimous points decision, having been the focus of intense scrutiny in the French capital during the Olympics.
Together with Taiwan鈥檚 Lin Yu-ting, who won the 57kg women鈥檚 final, Khelif was disqualified from last year鈥檚 world championships after they failed gender eligibility testing.
However they were cleared to compete in Paris, setting the stage for one of the biggest controversies of the Games.
The International Boxing Association鈥檚 Russian president Umar Kremlev has targeted both athletes, claiming that Khelif and Lin had undergone 鈥済enetic testing that shows that these are men.鈥�
The IBA were responsible for the world championships in 2023 that Lin and Khelif were thrown out of, but the IOC cleared them to box in Paris.
Khelif said she is 鈥渁 woman like any other.鈥�
鈥淚 was born a woman, lived a woman and competed as a woman,鈥� she told reporters about her eligibility.
Russia鈥檚 team has been banned from the Paris Olympics over Moscow鈥檚 invasion of Ukraine.