Boxing-Iranian female fighter cancels return home after arrest warrant issued

Sadaf Khadem, who on Saturday became the first Iranian woman to contest an official boxing bout, has cancelled her return to Tehran after an arrest warrant was issued for her there, her representative said on Wednesday.

An arrest warrant was also issued against Mahyar Monshipour, the Iranian-born former boxing world champion who set up the bout in western France and was planning to travel back to Iran with Khadem this week, the representative, Clara Dallay, told Reuters. Monshipour is a French citizen.

On Saturday, Khadem beat local boxer Anne Chauvin in an amateur bout.

The 24-year-old, who was in Paris on Monday, was returning to Monshipour’s home town of Poitiers.

France’s foreign ministry could not immediately comment on the case.

A spokesman from Iran’s embassy in Paris said he had received a request to confirm there was an arrest warrant out and comment on Khadem’s and her coach’s decision not to return to Iran. He gave no other comment.