She apologised for 'getting everybody worried' in an Instagram post some believe was written under duress
Female Iranian climber Elnaz Rekabi has arrived in Tehran after she mysteriously missed her scheduled flight home from the Asian Championships in South Korea.
Fears for Rekabi's safety had been aired after she competed in the competition without a hijab.
She said the headscarf had fallen off "inadvertently" in the competition.
But it comes at a time when protests have erupted in the country over the authoritarian government's draconian rule.
Before dawn on Wednesday morning,
BBC Persian had
reported that friends had been unable to contact the athlete, with one source saying her mobile phone and passport had been taken from her.
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Rekabi boarded a plane heading to Tehran two days earlier than planned, with Iran Wire reporting that the regime is planning to transfer her directly to Tehran’s notorious Evin prison.
Videos posted on social media show crowds gathered outside the airport to welcome her home.
People clapped and chanted "Elnaz is a heroine" as she arrived.
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Posting on Instagram, Rekabi apologised for "getting everybody worried".
"Due to bad timing, and the unanticipated call for me to climb the wall, my head covering inadvertently came off," it explained.
The post added that she was on her way back to Iran "alongside the team based on the pre-arranged schedule".
BBC Persian's Rana Rahimpour says that to many people the language used in this post looks like it has been written under duress.
Other Iranian women who have competed abroad without wearing a headscarf in the past have said they came under pressure from Iranian authorities to issue similar apologies, she adds.
Some of them decided not to go back to Iran.
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