Australian boxer, Tina Rahimi, who has just made her Olymipic debut, has criticised France’s hijab ban, which prevents French athletes participating in certain sports at the Olympics from wearing religious head scarfs.
In an Instagram post, she wrote: “With or without hijab. I choose to wear the hijab as a part of my religion and I am proud to do so.”
“You shouldn’t have to choose between your beliefs/religion or your sport,” added Rahimi. “This is what the French athletes are forced to do”, she added.
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Rahimi is the first female Muslim boxer to represent Australia at the Olympics.
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It is pertinent to mention that France’s hijab ban only applies to French athletes competing at the Games. The country has as a long history of seeking to regulate or ban the wearing of religious items, politically justified in the name of laïcité (secularism).
In June, a coalition of groups including Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International wrote to the International Olympic Committee that the “bans imposed by the French sports authorities are discriminatory and prevent Muslim athletes who decide to wear the hijab from exercising their human right to play sport without discrimination of any kind.”
