and Elon Musk to answer for hateful posts questioning the gender of Algerian boxer Imane Khelif? A lawsuit has been filed with a Paris court against users of the X platform, where hateful posts aimed at the boxer appeared during the games.
Imane Khelif files lawsuit against JK Rowling
The complicated case of Imane Khelif fired up the minds of Olympic observers around the world. The boxer, who won one fight after another, had to face accusations that she was not a woman and should not compete with women for medals. Users of the portal X, owned by Elon Musk, were particularly active in this matter. He himself also passed on suggestions that Khelif was a man.
were among a long list of public figures who sowed doubts about the gender identity of the Algerian boxer on X. Her representatives decided to act after the games ended. As reported by “Variety”, the Paris court that initiated the proceedings in this case received a lawsuit from Khelif’s representatives:
On August 13, we began an investigation into cyberbullying on the basis of gender, public insult on the basis of gender, and inciting others to discriminate and insult on the basis of gender, a spokesman for the Paris prosecutor’s office told Variety.
JK Rowling’s lawyer, Nabil Boudi, confirms the details in the lawsuit. The author of the Harry Potter series has been a staunch opponent of transgender rights for years. During the games, she suggested that Imane Khelif was a man who “enjoyed the suffering of a woman he had just hit in the head.” Although no transgender people took part in the Olympics, Rowling called for research into the issue, based solely on photos of women of all shapes and sizes competing.
Bombarding me with photos of female athletes to “teach” me that they don’t all look like Barbie is like sending me photos of differently shaped potatoes to prove that rocks are edible. I can still see the difference – she wrote on X, where she devoted a dozen or so posts to this issue, suddenly becoming an expert in determining biological sex.
Imane Khelif consistently denied the allegations throughout the Games. The opposing side of the “dispute” claimed that the athlete was disqualified in 2023 after tests showed that she had XY chromosomes and high testosterone levels. However, this issue remained in the realm of speculation – the results of the alleged tests were not published, and the organization conducting them, the IBA, is compromised and has extensive ties to Russia – during the competition in which Imane Khelif was disqualified, the boxer was supposed to fight a Russian competitor. The IOC took away the IBA’s rights to organize the Olympic qualifications and the tournament itself in Paris. According to scientific knowledge, the tests to which Imane Khelif was subjected would not determine Khelif’s gender. Imane Khelif confirms that she was born and feels like a woman, and won the Olympic gold medal as a woman.
What can happen to the authors of hateful posts? The boxer’s lawyer hopes that they will face consequences. In an interview with “Variety” he mentions that in court practice there are already prison sentences for hate speech and harassment in the online space.
Source: Gazeta
Bruce is a talented author and journalist with a passion for entertainment . He currently works as a writer at the 247 News Agency, where he has established himself as a respected voice in the industry.
