Australia has granted asylum to five footballers from the Iranian women’s team after growing concerns for their safety back home, following the team’s refusal to sing the Iranian national anthem before the Asia Cup tournament last week.
Australia’s Home Affairs Minister Tony Burke said five players escaped the team hotel on Australia’s Gold Coast overnight, holing up in a “safe location" while lodging their asylum claims. “They were moved to a safe location by Australian police. I signed off last night on their applications for humanitarian visas," he told reporters.
Burke also said other Iranian footballers are welcome to stay in Australia. This came after US President Donald Trump said he spoke to Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese and urged him to provide asylum to the Iranian women’s football team, saying that they will likely be killed at home.
“Five have already been taken care of, and the rest are on their way. Some, however, feel they must go back because they are worried about the safety of their families, including threats to those family members if they don’t return," he said, after an initial post warning Australia against a humanitarian mistake.
The Iranian football team refused to sing the national anthem before their Asia Cup opener against South Korea, after which the Iranian state media labelled them “wartime traitors" and their actions amounted to the “pinnacle of dishonour".
Their players stood in silence when Iran’s anthem was played before their 3-0 loss to South Korea on March 2, days after the US and Israel launched devastating attacks on Iran, killing Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.
ALSO READ:Trump Joins Growing Calls For Australia To Protect Iran’s Women Football Team: ‘They’ll Be Killed’
In their second match against Australia and then again in Sunday’s final game against the Philippines, the Iranian team sang and saluted during the national anthem, leading critics to believe they’d been forced to take part by members of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC).
After Iran’s 2-0 defeat to the Philippines, about 200 protesters surrounded the women’s team bus and chanted “let them go" after a player flashed an SOS signal, heightening fears about their persecution when they return home, as per several reports.
As the protesters tussled with the police, at least one Iranian player could be seen performing the international SOS distress signal from inside the team bus by tucking her thumb into her palm and folding her fingers down over it.
Source: World News in news18.com, World Latest News, World News
