Five members of Iran’s women’s football team have been granted humanitarian visas in Australia, with prime minister Anthony Albanese assuring the remaining players that “help is here”.
Iran’s women’s national football team were in the country for a tournament when war broke out back home, and drew international attention after they did not sing the Iran’s national anthem before their opening match.
The decision to grant some players asylum follows days of appeals from Iranian advocacy groups in Australia and US president Donald Trump, who called on Canberra to offer them protection.
Early on Tuesday, Australian federal police officers transported five 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 and the processing of 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 Mr 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.”
The women granted asylum were happy for their names and pictures to be published, he said. Mr Burke added that the players wanted to make clear that they were “not political activists”.
The Iranian team arrived in Australia for the Women’s Asian Cup last month, before the Iran war began on 28 February. The team was knocked out of the tournament over the weekend and faced the prospect of returning to a country under bombardment. Iran’s head coach Marziyeh Jafari said 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. Mr Burke said the offer of asylum was extended to all on the team.
The temporary humanitarian visas issued to the five players provide them with a route to permanent residency.
It remains unclear whether more of their teammates will seek similar assistance. Earlier on Tuesday some members of the squad were seen at Gold Coast Airport, south of Brisbane.
Their bus arrived at the rear of the domestic terminal, away from public view. Eyewitnesses and media outlets were able to see the players disembark and make their way into the terminal. Some protesters were also present as the bus arrived.
Queensland and federal police have heavily secured the domestic terminal. After the players entered the terminal, the bus departed, appearing to be empty.
Mr Burke said: “These women are tremendously popular in Australia, but we realise they are in a terribly difficult situation with the decisions that they’re making. The opportunity will continue to be there for them to talk to Australian officials if they wish to.”
Mr Burke didn’t detail what threats the players faced if they returned to Iran. 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 on 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 on Tuesday. “They’re safe here and they should feel at home here.”
Mr Albanese said Australian officials had made offers of support “clear” to the athletes.
“They then had to consider that and do it in a way that did not present any danger to them or to their families and friends back home in Iran,” he added.
Australia’s announcement came after Mr Trump on Monday in Washington, called on Australia to grant asylum to any team member who wanted it. Earlier that day, Mr 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.” Mr Trump added: “The US will take them if you won’t.”
Less than two hours later, in another social media post, Mr Trump praised Mr Albanese, saying: “He’s on it! Five have already been taken care of, and the rest are on their way.”
The president’s offer of asylum represented something of a change for Mr Trump, whose administration has sought to limit the number of immigrants in the US who can receive asylum for political purposes.
Mr Albanese said Mr 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.
Additional reporting by agencies
