Iranian Climber Elnaz Rekabi Is Welcomed by Crowds in Tehran
On the evening of May 29, 2013, an Iranian climber was arrested for entering the forbidden area of Mount Kasr-e-Bab-e-Zahra in Iran. The area is located in Babol County, in the province of Kermanshah, on the Iranian side of the Karun River. The area is the last known climbing area in Iran that contains some of the tallest snow mountains in the country.
On the evening of April 25, 2013, at approximately 8 p.m., Elnaz Rekabi, a 29-year-old Iranian woman, took a break from climbing Mount Kasr-e-Bab-e-Zahra near Sistan and Baluchistan in Pakistan and proceeded to hike to the area on foot. She arrived in the area between 5 and 6 p.m. local time, as she had planned to stay the night in the area.
While Rekabi was walking along the mountain slope, an Iranian climber working with the mountaineering and rock climbing organization, Tengri-Khorasan, was alerted about her presence. At approximately 7:45 p.m. local time, Rekabi was informed by the Iranian climbers that she was trespassing on their mountain, and she was then asked to leave the area at once. Rekabi, who has done some climbing trips with the climbers, decided to press on with her hike, and reached the area at about 8:30 p.m.
As Rekabi was leaving the area, a group of Iranian climbers in Tengri-Khorasan had noticed that she had a camera with her, and were filming her with it. Tengri-Khorasan, who had just returned to their base camp after another climb, sent three climbers to the area, including a person who was able to obtain a copy of the film that had been taken. The climbers, including Rekabi, were then contacted by members of the Iranian security forces who were conducting a search operation in the area. The three climbers in