Elon Musk, JK Rowling named in criminal complaint by Olympics boxer Imane Khelif in France: 'Cyber harassment'

Elon Musk and J.K. Rowling were reportedly cited in a criminal complaint filed by Algerian boxer Imane Khelif to French authorities over alleged sex-based "acts of aggravated cyber harassment." 

Nabil Boudi, a Paris-based attorney for Khelif, confirmed to Variety on Tuesday that the tech billionaire who owns the social media platform X and the Harry Potter author were both named in the complaint initially filed on Friday to a unit of the Paris Prosecutor’s Office known as the "National Center for the Fight Against Online Hatred." 

In a separate statement to Variety, the center confirmed it received Khelif’s complaint and on Tuesday contacted its "Central Office for the Fight Against Crimes Against Humanity and Hate Crimes" to launch an investigation into "the counts of cyber harassment due to gender, public insult because of gender, public incitement to discrimination and public insult because of origin."

The Paris prosecutor’s office did not name specific suspects.

The investigation in France comes not long after a police commissioner in the United Kingdom had threatened to extradite and jail U.S. citizens over online posts amid riots in London. The city saw clashes between anti-migrant groups, police and groups of migrants following the fatal stabbing of three children at a Taylor Swift-themed dance class. The suspect was born in Wales to Rwandan parents. 

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Musk’s takeover of X, formerly Twitter, came with a promise to preserve free speech in online discourse. 

Khelif, who failed a gender test to compete in a women's competition last year, ignited an international firestorm on the platform surrounding the issues of gender identity and preserving fair competition in women’s sports when Italian opponent Angela Carini pulled out just seconds into a match at the 2024 Paris Summer Olympics, citing pain from opening punches. 

"Men don't belong in women's sports," former NCAA swimmer Riley Gaines wrote on X. 

Musk responded, "Absolutely." 

"The idea that those objecting to a male punching a female in the name of sport are objecting because they believe Khelif to be ‘trans’ is a joke. We object because we saw a male punching a female," Rowling wrote in one of several X posts on the subject. 

"I don’t claim Khelif is trans. My objection, and that of many others, is to male violence against women becoming an Olympic sport," Rowling added in a later X post. 

Using his own platform, TRUTH Social, Trump shared a photo of the fight between Khelif and Carini and wrote, "I will keep men out of women’s sports!"

In the criminal complaint, Boudi said his client was targeted by a "misogynist, racist and sexist campaign" as Khelif won gold in the women’s welterweight division, becoming a hero in her native Algeria and bringing global attention to women’s boxing, according to the Associated Press.

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"J. K. Rowling and Elon Musk are named in the lawsuit, among others," Boudi told Variety, adding that the investigation could also include former President Donald Trump. "Trump tweeted, so whether or not he is named in our lawsuit, he will inevitably be looked into as part of the prosecution."

"What we’re asking is that the prosecution investigates not only these people but whoever it feels necessary. If the case goes to court, they will stand trial," Boudi reportedly said, adding that the lawsuit "could target personalities overseas" given that the French prosecutor’s office "for combating online hate speech has the possibility to make requests for mutual legal assistance with other countries."

Khelif's legal complaint was filed against social media platforms, including X, instead of a specific perpetrator, a common formulation under French law that leaves it up to investigators to determine which person or organization that may have been at fault, according to the AP. 

The development came two days after Khelif returned to Algeria, where she’s expected to meet with President Abdelmadjid Tebboune and be welcomed by family in her hometown of Ain Mesbah.

Seventeen months ago in New Delhi, India, Khelif was disqualified from the International Boxing Association’s world championships three days after she won an early-round bout with previously undefeated Russian prospect Azalia Amineva. Following many complaints from coaches in 2022, Khelif and another boxer, Lin Yu-ting, agreed in 2022 to gender testing involving blood samples and the detected lab results "didn’t match the eligibility criteria for IBA women’s events," the IBA said in an Aug. 5 statement intended to "clarify the facts" surrounding Khelif amid the Olympics controversy. 

The tests were conducted in 2023 and the results again did not meet the eligibility criteria, the IBA said. 

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In an Aug. 1 statement, the International Olympics Committee defended Khelif and Lin, explaining that the gender and age of all athletes participating in the boxing tournament of the Olympic Games Paris 2024 "are based on their passport." The committee decried "misleading information" about the two athletes, saying they "were the victims of a sudden and arbitrary decision by the IBA." 

"Towards the end of the IBA World Championships in 2023, they were suddenly disqualified without any due process," the committee said. "Every person has the right to practice sport without discrimination."

The Associated Press contributed to this report.