How a daring escape by Iranian soccer players secured their asylum in Australia

Source : ABC NEWS

As the Iranian women’s team jogged off the field of the Gold Coast’s Robina Stadium on Sunday night, Australian officials were waiting for them.

Their purpose was to signal in the strongest possible terms that if any of the young women wanted to talk, there were people standing by to help.

Establishing contact with the players was the first of several hurdles that had to be overcome for Australia to pull off the events that followed in the next 24 hours.

Discussions with players began in earnest in the early hours yesterday when it became clear five members of the team wanted asylum.

When the women slipped away from their minders last night, Australian Federal Police and Queensland Police were there to escort them.

Home Affairs Minister Tony Burke met the group about 9pm to sign their applications for temporary humanitarian visas, ending an agonising period for the athletes, who had been in the spotlight since they were labelled “traitors” on Iranian state TV for not singing the national anthem before a game. 

By 1:30am today, the paperwork had been processed. In the early hours, in a secure location in Brisbane, the five footballers broke into a spontaneous cry of “Aussie, Aussie, Aussie!” as they watched Mr Burke sign the documents.

Until this point, the government had been tight-lipped about its attempt to offer the athletes asylum, even as US President Donald Trump rubbished Prime Minister Anthony Albanese on social media for failing to protect them. 

But Mr Burke said the government’s silence had been part of a delicate operation to enable the players to safely express a desire to stay in Australia. 

“These women are great athletes, great people, and they are going to very much feel at home in Australia,” he said.

Opposition leader Angus Taylor said the Coalition supported the decision, crediting the women for showing “enormous courage”.

“Every reasonable Australian would want a good outcome for their safety and for their future,” he said.

How did we get here? 

Iranian women’s national football team players Fatemeh Pasandideh, Zahra Ghanbari, Zahra Sarbali, Atefeh Ramazanzadeh and Mona Hamoudi were among a group of players who did not sing the national anthem before their opening match with South Korea at the Women’s Asian Cup on March 2. 

But days later, before their match against Australia, players sang the anthem with their hands either raised in a salute or across their hearts. 

The next day, footage emerged of radical conservative television presenter Mohammad Reza Shahbazi calling out the players and calling for “traitors” to be dealt with “more harshly” in times of war. 

“This is no longer some symbolic protest or demonstration. In wartime conditions, going there and refusing to sing the national anthem is the height of shamelessness and betrayal,” he said. 

“The disgrace of this shameless betrayal should remain on their shoulders, and they must be properly dealt with so that others take a warning from it.”

Under the Islamic Republic’s penal code, corruption or treason can lead to lengthy prison sentences or the death penalty.

That same week, members of the team appeared to give the SOS hand signal to protesters gathered outside the Gold Coast hotel where the team had been staying. 

On Sunday night, the Iranian team, known as the Lionesses, played their final Women’s Asian Cup game, losing 2-0 to the Philippines. 

Within 48 hours, Australian Federal Police would move five of them out of the hotel to a secure location to have their asylum cases approved. 

How the players got out

We don’t know much about how the Iranian players communicated with the government or how they escaped from their hotel. 

Staff members believed to be connected to the regime are embedded with the team and the ABC understands the players are not allowed to move freely.

There are also suggestions communications are being monitored. 

During Question Time in Parliament on Tuesday, Mr Burke said one of the challenges for the government was that it was “not only the Australian people who are listening”.

He said a police officer had been inside the team’s hotel and made efforts to create “the maximum amount of opportunities” for players to ask for help. 

The prime minister said the players had taken time to consider applying for asylum after contacting Australian authorities. 

“We wanted to make it clear to the athletes that support was available,” he said.

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“They then had to consider that and do that in a way that did not present any danger to them or to their families or friends back home in Iran.”

Mr Burke said a conversation “started in earnest” yesterday morning with the players who had decided they did want to request asylum. 

“They were moved to a safe location by the Australian Federal Police, and last night I met with them at that location,” he said. 

Mr Burke called the head of ASIO, Australia’s spy agency, to confirm that all the asylum seekers had the necessary security clearance before meeting them.

Mr Albanese said the government had been preparing “for some time” for this moment. 

“Australians have been moved by the plight of these brave women. They are safe here, and they should feel at home here,” he said. 

Trump’s call to Albanese 

The US president had earlier lashed out at the prime minister, suggesting in a post on Truth Social that the women were being forced to leave Australia at a time when they could be punished back in Iran.

Mr Albanese confirmed he had spoken to Mr Trump just before 2am today and conveyed to him the government’s action, which at that stage had confirmed asylum for the five players. 

Again taking to Truth Social, Mr Trump said he had spoken to Mr Albanese and was satisfied he was “on it!” 

The government was keen to point out the timeline of the call, which happened after the players had been granted temporary humanitarian visas at 1:30am.

“The views that the president put on this, I think, reflected what all good people are thinking about this. I think people were looking at this situation and saying, ‘Surely there is something we can do?”’ Mr Burke said. 

“Of course, we have been in a situation of not being able to talk publicly about what we were doing.”

What happens to the rest of the team? 

The government said the door remained open to other members of the Iranian team who might want to request asylum. 

On Tuesday afternoon, a bus carrying an unknown number of Iranian players left the hotel under heavy police escort and travelled to the airport.

The home affairs minister acknowledged it was an “incredibly difficult decision” for the women, but said it was important that the government provided them with agency to choose. 

“While the offer is still there for other members of the team, it is quite possible and indeed likely that not every woman on the team will take up the opportunity that Australia would offer to them,” he said.

Iranian Australians who have spoken to the ABC said it was important to understand the players may not want to seek asylum, due to the reported pressures facing their families if they did not return.

Mr Burke said the players who had been granted asylum were comfortable with sharing their stories, but stressed they were not activists.

Temporary humanitarian visas are valid for 12 months and provide a pathway to permanent residency.

These types of visas have previously been granted to Ukrainians, Palestinians and people from Afghanistan.

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