Algerian boxer and Olympic gold medalist Imane Khelif filed a complaint on Saturday over online abuse following a controversial gender debate that made headlines during Paris’s Olympic Games.

Khelif’s lawyer, Nabil Boudi, announced via a press release on the social media platform X that he filed a complaint with the anti-online hatred center of the Paris Public Prosecutor’s Office for acts of aggravated cyber harassment. Boudi stated that the criminal investigation aims to clarify who initiated and perpetuated the “misogynistic, racist and sexist campaign” against the boxer.

Imane Khelif and Taiwan’s Lin Yu-ting became the subjects of significant controversy and online harassment after being allowed to compete in the 2024 Paris Olympics despite being disqualified by the International Boxing Association (IBA) from the IBA Women’s World Boxing Championships New Dheli in 2023 for reportedly failing gender eligibility tests.

The IBA was previously stripped of its recognition by the International Olympic Committee (IOC) over concerns related to governance, finance and ethical matters. The IOC, however, cleared the two athletes for the Olympic Games, stating that all athletes in the boxing tournament complied with the relevant eligibility, entry and medical regulations, whilst also criticizing the IBA’s previous disqualifications.

Numerous human rights NGOs also heavily condemned the developments occurring online. The Sports & Rights Alliance urged for social media platforms to respect human rights whilst describing the online abuse directed towards the two Olympic boxers as “horrifying,” “unconscionable” and “unfounded.”

Human Rights Watch (HRW) expressed similar sentiments, supporting the IOC’s decision and condemning the so-called practice of “sex testing.” The NGO previously published a 127-page long report concerning human rights violations in “sex testing” of elite women athletes in 2020 by the sport governing body World Athletics, which primarily targeted women with elevated testosterone levels. The report provides a detailed account of how these practices violate the most fundamental rights, including the rights to privacy, dignity, health, non-discrimination, freedom from ill-treatment and employment. According to HRW, such regulations subject female athletes to unnecessary medical procedures carried out under coercive conditions, often making them the target of intense speculation and humiliation. In turn, HRW applauded the IOC’s new “Framework on Fairness, Inclusion, and Non-Discrimination on the Basis of Gender Identity and Sex Variations” for countering many of the harmful elements in previous sex-testing regulations.