Imane Khelif: French prosecutors launch cyberbullying probe

The Paris public prosecutor's office said Wednesday it will look into online bullying targeting Olympic boxing champion Imane Khelif during the Summer Games in the French capital. 

The prosecutor's office said it had received a legal complaint from the 25-year-old Algerian athlete over cyber abuse directed at her as she competed in the women's welterweight competition.

The office said that a special unit — its Office for the Fight against Crimes against Humanity and Hate Crime — was conducting a probe into charges of "cyber harassment based on gender, public insults based on gender, public incitement to discrimination and public insults on the basis of origin."

Khelif, who won a gold medal at the Games, was the subject of global attention as she faced a torrent of online abuse with people wrongly questioning her sex.

What was Khelif's complaint about?

Khelif's lawyer Nabil Boudi said last week that Khelif had filed a legal complaint alleging online harassment and describing the decision to lodge a complaint as a "fight for justice."

"The 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," Boudi said at the time.

US news magazine Variety reported that J.K. Rowling and Elon Musk were both named in the criminal complaint filed by Khelif over alleged "acts of aggravated cyber harassment."

Why was Khelif the subject of so much controversy?

Khelif was disqualified from competing with women at a global event last year after she reportedly failed gender eligibility tests. But she had been cleared by the International Olympic Committee to compete at the Paris Summer Olympics.

The debate was further inflamed after Italian boxer Angela Carini quit 46 seconds into her match against Khelif during a preliminary round at the Games. Khelif then won the round automatically before going on to win a gold medal in the women's boxing division.

False claims that Khelif was transgender or a man erupted online, and the International Olympic Committee defended her and denounced those peddling misinformation.

Khelif said that the spread of misconceptions about her "harms human dignity."

rm/nm (AFP, AP)