Five members of the Iranian women’s football team have been granted asylum by Australia where they had been playing in the AFC Women’s Asian Cup.
US President Donald Trump joined Iranian groups urging the Australian government to help the women after they were knocked out of the tournament over the weekend and faced the prospect of returning to a country under bombardment and possible punishment by the regime for not singing the national anthem before their opening match.
Early on Tuesday, Australian federal police officers transported five of the women from their hotel in Gold Coast, Australia, “to a safe location” after they made asylum requests. There, they met with Home Affairs Minister Tony Burke where their humanitarian visas was finalised, the minister told reporters in Brisbane hours later.
“I don’t want to begin to imagine how difficult that decision is for each of the individual women, but certainly last night it was joy, it was relief,” said Burke, who posted photos to social media of the women smiling and clapping as he signed documents. “People were very excited about embarking on a life in Australia.”
Concerns were raised for the safety of members of the team following their defeat in the tournament after they were labelled traitors by members of the Iranian regime for staying silent during the national anthem at the beginning of their first match last week.
The women granted asylum were happy for their names and pictures to be published, he said. Burke added that the players wanted to make clear that they were “not political activists.”
Reza Pahlavi, the son of Iran’s ousted shah, had also joined calls for the women’s safety to be ensured by the Australian government. He named the footballers who he said had fled the team for safety as Fatemeh Pasandideh, Zahra Ghanbari, Zahra Sarbali, Atefeh Ramazanzadeh and Mona Hamoudi.
The Iranian team arrived in Australia for the Women’s Asian Cup last month, before the Iran war began on February 28.
Iran’s head coach Marziyeh Jafari said on Sunday the players “want to come back to Iran as soon as we can”.
An official squad list named 26 players, plus Jafari and other coaches. Burke said the offer of asylum was extended to all on the team.
It was not clear when the remaining players were due to leave Australia, but on Tuesday members of the public kneeled or lay in front of a white bus with tinted windows believed to be carrying the rest of the team.
The protesters, some wearing red, white and green clothing or holding pre-Revolution Iranian flags, tried to prevent the bus from departing the hotel. Some chanted “Save our girls” and “Please act now.”
During the tournament, the women have mostly declined to comment on the situation at home, although Iran forward Sara Didar choked back tears in a news conference Wednesday as she shared their concerns for their families and all Iranians.
The Iranian team has drawn national news coverage in Australia after the players’ silence during the anthem before an opening loss to South Korea last week was viewed by some as an act of resistance and others as a show of mourning. The team hasn’t clarified. They later sang and saluted during the anthem before their remaining two matches.
“Australians have been moved by the plight of these brave women,” Prime Minister Anthony Albanese told reporters Tuesday. “They’re safe here and they should feel at home here.”
Australia’s announcement came after Trump called on Australia to grant asylum to any team member who wanted it. Earlier that day, Trump had lambasted Australia on social media, saying Australia was “making a terrible humanitarian mistake by allowing the … team to be forced back to Iran, where they will most likely be killed.” Trump added: “The U.S. will take them if you won’t.”
Less than two hours later, in another social media post, Trump praised Albanese, saying, “He’s on it! Five have already been taken care of, and the rest are on their way.”
Albanese said Trump had called him for “a very positive conversation,” about the matter. The Australian leader had explained “the action that we’d undertaken over the previous 48 hours,” to support the women.
He applauded Australian news outlets for their restraint in not publicising developments in the story earlier.
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