Olympic boxer Imane Khelif is taking legal action against transphobic bullies

Towards the end of the Olympics, poetic justice was served when Algerian boxer Imane Khelif bagged the women’s welterweight boxing gold medal, despite constant online harassment from transphobic bullies.

Imane Khelif came under the self-appointed gender police’s scope when, after being declared victorious following a bout with Italy’s Angela Carini, she was subjected to social media abuse and accused of being “a man.” No matter, apparently, that Carini is cisgender—transphobes’ insistence on a very strict performance of gender purity will always end up threatening the very women they claim to want to “protect.”

After bringing glory to Algeria, Khelif is now preparing to mount a legal challenge against the people who subjected her to vile harassment. She has filed a complaint to the National Center for Combating Online Hate, which is a part of the Paris Correctional Court.

Khelif was not the only female boxer who was affected by gender-related hate comments at the recently concluded Paris Olympics. Taiwan’s Lin Yu-ting, who also took home a gold medal, was subjected to harassment and online abuse on a similar note to the 25-year-old. The deplorable remarks against Yu-ting and Khelif were largely rooted in their baseless disqualification from women’s world championships last year by the IBA (International Boxing Association).

The IBA is run by Russian oligarchs and has been banned since June 2023, due to financial corruption and its political affiliations with the Kremlin. The association had unfairly changed its gender rules during the competition where Yu-ting and Khelif were disqualified and, to date, refused to make the controversial gender tests of the duo public.

Khelif has filed her complaint against X, as well as “important political figures” with large audiences on the platform. Possible “malicious individuals” who fit that description include J.K. Rowling, Donald Trump, Jr., JD Vance, and Elon Musk himself—though there are plenty more who could be included.

Khelif’s attorney Nabil Boudi said in a statement: “The investigation will determine who was behind this misogynist, racist and sexist campaign but will also have to concern itself with those who fed the online lynching.”