PARIS (AP) — French prosecutors opened an investigation into an online harassment complaint made by Olympic boxing champion Imane Khelif after a torrent of criticism and false claims about her sex during the Summer Games, the Paris prosecutor's office said Wednesday.
The athlete's lawyer Nabil Boudi filed a legal complaint Friday with a special unit in the Paris prosecutor’s office that combats online hate speech.
Boudi said the boxer was targeted by a “misogynist, racist and sexist campaign” as she won gold in the women’s welterweight division, becoming a hero in her native Algeria and bringing global attention to women’s boxing.
The prosecutor’s office said it had received the complaint and its Office for the Fight against Crimes against Humanity and Hate Crime had opened an investigation on 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 was thrust into a worldwide clash over gender identity and regulation in sports after her first fight in Paris, when Italian opponent Angela Carini pulled out just seconds into the match, citing pain from opening punches.
Claims that Khelif was transgender or a man erupted online. The International Olympic Committee defended her and denounced those peddling misinformation. Khelif said that the spread of misconceptions about her “harms human dignity.”
Among those who referred to Khelif as a man in critical online posts were Donald Trump and J. K. Rowling. Tech billionaire Elon Musk re-posted a comment calling Khelif a man.
Khelif's legal complaint was filed against “X,” instead of a specific perpetrator, a common formulation under French law that leaves it up to investigators to determine which person or organization may have been at fault.
The Paris prosecutor’s office didn’t name specific suspects.
The development came after Khelif returned to Algeria, where she met with President Abdelmadjid Tebboune on Wednesday and will be welcomed by family later this week in her hometown of Ain Mesbah.
In Algeria, Khelif's former coach Mustapha Bensaou said the boxer's complaint in France was initiated by the Algerian authorities and should “serve as a lesson in defending the rights and honor (of athletes) in Algeria and around the world.”
“All those involved will be prosecuted for violating Imane’s dignity and honor,” Bensaou said in an interview with The Associated Press. He added: “The attacks on Imane were designed to break her and undermine her morale. Thank God, she triumphed."
The investigation is one of several underway by France's hate crimes unit that are connected to the Olympics.
It is also investigating alleged death threats and cyberbullying against Kirsty Burrows, an official in charge of the IOC’s unit for safeguarding and mental health, after she defended Khelif during a news conference in Paris. Under French law, the crimes, if proven, carry prison sentences that range from two to five years and fines ranging from 30,000 to 45,000 euros.
The unit is also examining complaints over death threats, harassment or other abuse targeting six people involved in the Games' opening ceremony, including its director Thomas Jolly.
AP Olympics: https://apnews.com/hub/2024-paris-olympic-games
FILE -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 Photo/Ariana Cubillos, File)
U.S. stocks are drifting in early trading after leaping to records the day before as part of a worldwide rally. The S&P 500 was down 0.2% Friday but still on track for its fifth winning week in the last six. The Dow Jones Industrial Average slipped 63 points, or 0.2% after likewise setting its own all-time high the day before. The Nasdaq composite was flat. FedEx slumped after its profit and revenue for the latest quarter fell short of analysts’ expectations. Nike jumped after naming Elliott Hill as its chief executive. Treasury yields rose in the bond market.
THIS IS A BREAKING NEWS UPDATE. AP’s earlier story follows below.
Wall Street pointed lower Friday as a rally driven by the Federal Reserve’s big cut to interest rates faded and markets' focus turned to earnings and other corporate news.
Futures for the S&P 500 shed 0.2% before the bell, while futures for the Dow Jones Industrial Average were essentially unchanged.
Fedex tumbled more than 13% in after-hours trading after the package delivery company's first-quarter earnings came up woefully short of Wall Street expectations. FedEx's profit per share came in 20% below forecasts and a nearly a dollar short of the same period a year ago. The company blamed flagging demand for certain services and higher operating expenses.
Nike shares got a boost from news that the athletic shoe company named Elliott Hill as its president and CEO, replacing John Donahoe. Its shares rose 6.6% as investors applauded the change that will bring Hill, who retired from the company in 2020, back to run the show.
Shares in Trump Media and Technology Group slid 5.7% to all-time lows as the lockup period for the company's biggest shareholder, former President Donald Trump, ended.
Trump owns more than half of the $3 billion company behind the Truth Social platform. But Trump and other insiders in the company have been, until today, unable to cash in because a “lock-up agreement” has prevented them from selling any of their shares. Trump has said he's in no rush to sell.
U.S. indices rose to record highs on Thursday after the Federal Reserve delivered its first cut to interest rates in more than four years a day earlier.
That closed the door on a run where the Fed kept its main interest rate at a two-decade high in hopes of slowing the U.S. economy enough to stamp out high inflation. Now that inflation has fallen from its peak two summers ago, Chair Jerome Powell said the Fed can focus more on keeping the job market solid and the economy out of a recession.
The Fed is still under pressure because the job market and hiring have begun to slow under the weight of higher interest rates. Some critics say the central bank waited too long to cut rates and may have damaged the economy.
Elsewhere, in Europe at midday, Germany’s DAX, the CAC 40 in Paris and London's FTSE 100 were all down in the neighborhood of 0.8%.
The Bank of Japan ended a two-day monetary policy meeting by announcing it would keep its benchmark rate unchanged at 0.25%.
In Tokyo, the Nikkei 225 index soared 1.5% to close at 37,723.91 after the nation's key inflation data in August accelerated for a fourth consecutive month. The core consumer price index rose 2.8% year-on-year in August, exceeding the central bank’s 2% target and leaving room for further rate hikes.
Markets are closely watching for hints on the pace of future rate hikes from BOJ Gov. Kazuo Ueda.
“For the BOJ, given current economic conditions and recent central bank rhetoric, further policy adjustments are not expected until later this year or early 2025,” Anderson Alves of ActivTrades said in a commentary.
The U.S. dollar rebounded against the Japanese currency, rising to 144.14 yen from 142.62 yen late Thursday. The euro rose to $1.1167 from $1.1161.
China refrained from further monetary stimulus as the central bank left key lending rates unchanged on Friday. The 1-year loan prime rate (LPR), the benchmark for most corporate and household loans, stays at 3.45%, and the 5-year rate, a reference for property mortgages, was held at 3.85%.
The Hang Seng in Hong Kong added 1.4% to 18,258.57 and the Shanghai Composite index edged up less than 0.1% to 2,736.81.
Elsewhere in the region, Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 rose 0.2% at 8,209.50. South Korea's Kospi advanced 0.5% to 2,593.37.
India's Sensex gained 0.9% and Taiwan's Taiex was up 0.5%.
In the bond market, the yield on the 10-year Treasury ticked down to 3.71% from 3.73% late Thursday. The two-year Treasury yield, which more closely tracks expectations for Fed action, ticked up to 3.61% from 3.59%.
In other dealings early Friday, U.S. benchmark crude oil lost 32 cents to $70.84 per barrel. Brent crude, the international standard, declined 31 cents to $74.56 per barrel.
On Thursday, the S&P 500 jumped 1.7% to 5,713.64 for one of its best days of the year and topped its last all-time high set in July. The Dow leaped 1.3% to 42,025.19, and the Nasdaq composite led the market with a 2.5% spurt to 18,013.98.
A bus passes the Wall St. subway station on Wednesday, Sept. 18, 2024, in New York. (AP Photo/Peter Morgan)
Trader Michale Conlon, right, works on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange as Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell's news conference appears on a television screen behind him, Wednesday, Sept. 18, 2024. (AP Photo/Richard Drew)
A person walks in front of an electronic stock board showing Japan's Nikkei index and Japanese Yen exchange rate at a securities firm Friday, Sept. 20, 2024, in Tokyo. (AP Photo/Eugene Hoshiko)
A person stands in front of an electronic stock board showing Japan's Nikkei index at a securities firm Friday, Sept. 20, 2024, in Tokyo. (AP Photo/Eugene Hoshiko)
People ride bicycles in front of an electronic stock board showing Japan's Nikkei index at a securities firm Friday, Sept. 20, 2024, in Tokyo. (AP Photo/Eugene Hoshiko)
A person rides a bicycle in front of an electronic stock board showing Japan's Nikkei index at a securities firm Friday, Sept. 20, 2024, in Tokyo. (AP Photo/Eugene Hoshiko)
