Algerian boxer Imane Khelif has filed a lawsuit against Elon Musk and JK Rowling for cyberbullying, and Donald Trump could also be sued. The athlete’s lawyer Nabil Boudi, a lawyer at the Paris bar, confirmed this to the American magazine Variety.
The multi-billionaire founder of Tesla and the British author of the Harry Potter series are accused by Khelif of aggravated cyber harassment for having published defamatory and discriminatory messages against him on social media. “Trump also tweeted, so he will inevitably be examined,” adds the lawyer.
The Paris Prosecutor’s Office’s National Center for Combating Online Hate said it had launched an investigation into “gender-based cyber harassment, gender-based public insults, public provocations of discrimination, and origin-based public insults.”
Imane Khelif, fresh from winning the gold medal in the welterweight category at the Paris Olympics, has been at the centre of attention for the controversy surrounding her participation in the women’s events at the Games, after last year the International Boxing Federation excluded her from the World Championships deeming her unfit to face female athletes.
The case exploded in the media in particular following what happened in the round of 16 match at the Olympics, when the Italian boxer Angela Carini withdrew after just 46 seconds, claiming that she had been scared after receiving a punch to the nose that was too strong.
In the hours following the match, JK Rowling wrote on social media: “A young female boxer has just had everything she has worked and trained for taken away from her because a male was allowed in the ring against her.”
Musk, on the other hand, had shared on social X (which he owns) a post by swimmer Riley Gaines who stated that “men do not belong in women’s sports”. “Absolutely”, the entrepreneur had concluded.
Trump, as mentioned, had also commented on the incident: Carini, he had said during an electoral rally, “clashed with a trans, a good male boxer”.
But now Imane Khelif is fighting back. The case was filed against X, which, according to French law, means it was filed against unknown persons. This, explains her lawyer Boudi, “ensures that the prosecutor’s office has full freedom to investigate all persons,” including those who may have written hate messages under a pseudonym.
The complaint also explicitly mentions some notoriously controversial figures. Trump is not among them, but it cannot be ruled out that the tycoon could be involved in the investigation, having called the boxer “a man” not on X but on her social network Truth.
“What we are asking is that the prosecution investigate not only these people, but anyone they deem necessary. If the case goes to court, they will be tried,” explains Khelif’s lawyer.
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