Chanting Crowds Greet Iranian Climber as Hijab ‘Heroine’

“Cheering crowds mobbed Tehran’s international airport today to greet the return of Elnaz Rekabi, a professional climber who was filmed competing without a headscarf,” the Times of London reports.

“Rekabi, 33, had disappeared after the competition in South Korea at the weekend before making a public apology. She reiterated to state media that leaving off her hijab for the competition, in violation of the country’s strict Islamic dress code, had been an ‘accident.’”