Supporters of the Iran national team react to the team’s bus – Image: Dave Hunt/AAP/IMAGO
The five Iranian women football players will be allowed to stay in Australia due to concerns about their safety if they returned home.
Five Iranian women’s national team players were granted humanitarian visas in Australia amid fears of persecution back home.
“Australians have been moved by the plight of these brave women,” Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said at a press conference on Tuesday.
“They’re safe here, and they should feel at home here,” he added.
Home Affairs Minister Tony Burke confirmed that Australian Federal Police had assisted the five women in leaving the team base in Gold Coast and entering a safe location” after their asylum requests.
There, Burke met the five players upon the completion of their humanitarian visas, and said they were “excited” about their future lives in Australia.
“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,” Burke said.
Trump calls for players to be granted asylum
This came after US President Donald Trump said he had spoken to Albanese about the players. Trump also posted on his Truth Social account that Australia should give the players asylum and that the US would take them in if Canberra wouldn’t.
In his press conference, Albanese added that the government was prepared to provide assistance to any and all other members of Iran’s squad, but it was up to them to accept the offer.
Later in the day, Australian public broadcaster ABC reported that two other members of the team had asked to stay. The rest of the squad were understood to have left the country on a flight from Sydney bound for Kuala Lumpur. What route they were to take to get back to Iran remained unclear.
Australian Home Affairs Minister Tony Burke met with the girls at a safe house – Image: Australia Ministry of Home Affairs/AP Photo/picture alliance
Concerns caused by failure to sing national anthem
The team gained global attention last week for not singing their country’s national anthem ahead of their first Asian Cup game against South Korea.
Many interpreted the move as an expression of criticism of the Iranian regime amidst the US-Israel war on the country.
Back in Iran, the national team faced condemnation from the authorities, with one state television commentator accusing them of being “wartime traitors,” sparking worries over the players’ safety.
The following game, against hosts Australia, the Iran players sang the anthem while saluting, a move many critics of Iran’s Islamic regime believed they had been forced to carry out.
After Iran’s elimination from the Asia Cup following their the loss to the Philippines in their third match, calls from around the world grew to make sure the footballers would be granted asylum in Australia, preventing them from facing the potential backlash and sanctions back in Tehran.
(NAN-Editor’s note: According to the Guardian Australia news outlet on 11-3-26, two more Iranian football squad members have been granted humanitarian visas in Australia, quoting Australian Home Affairs Minister Tony Burke. Minister Burke said one player and one support member were reunited with five players women’s team granted humanitarian visas this week.)
DW.com/NAN 11-3-26
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