More Iranian women’s footballers leave asylum in Australia amid threat back home
&imwidth=600&imheight=450&format=webp&quality=medium "More Iranian women’s footballers leave asylum in Australia amid threat back home")
More Iranian women’s footballers leave asylum in Australia amid threat back home Photograph: (AFP)
Three more Iranian women’s football team members have withdrawn their asylum bids in Australia to return to Iran. Home Affairs Minister Tony Burke confirmed the players chose to rejoin their team despite being labeled "traitors" and facing potential threats at home.
Three more members of the Iranian women’s football team have changed their minds and left their asylum in Australia to join the rest of the team on their journey back to Iran, Australia’s Home Affairs Minister Tony Burke said in a statement on Sunday (Mar 15). More than half a dozen players of Iran’s visiting delegation at the Women’s Asian Cup sought refuge in Australia after their government labelled them as ‘traitors’ for refusing to sing the national anthem.
Only three players are left now after another member of the group left to rejoin the Iranian women’s team earlier in the week.
Detailing the latest developments, the Home Affairs minister said the relevant authorities had given them repeated opportunities to reconsider their final call, adding that the players faced an incredibly difficult time making their decisions.
"Overnight, three members of the Iranian Women's Football Team made the decision to join the rest of the team on their journey back to Iran," Tony Burke said. "After telling Australian officials they had made this decision, the players were given repeated chances to talk about their options," he said.
Meanwhile, the football drama has unfolded against a backdrop of war in the Middle East, unleashed by US-Israeli air strikes on Iran. Rights groups have repeatedly accused Iranian authorities of pressuring athletes abroad by threatening relatives or with the seizure of property if they defect or make statements against the Islamic Republic.
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"The Australian Government has done everything we could to make sure these women were provided with the chance for a safe future in Australia," Burke said. "Australians should be proud that it was in our country that these women experienced a nation presenting them with genuine choices and interacted with authorities seeking to help them."
Iranian state broadcaster IRIB said on Saturday that three team members -- two players and one member of the technical staff -- had withdrawn their asylum applications and were currently en route to Malaysia.
(With inputs from AFP)
