Source : ABC NEWS
A fifth member of the Iranian women’s football team withdrew her asylum claim and left the country overnight, the federal government has confirmed.
Seven team members, including a player handler, were granted humanitarian visas by the Australian government last week while they were here for the Asian Cup tournament.
Local Iranian diaspora members campaigning for the women to stay claim that the staff member granted asylum was passing on threats from the Iranian regime.
Government sources say they have looked into those claims and have no reason to believe them.
Three members who had sought asylum decided to return to Iran on Sunday.
Players en route to Tehran
Australia’s Department of Home Affairs gave the three players requesting a return home multiple opportunities to reconsider before honouring their request.
“While the Australian government can ensure that opportunities are provided and communicated, we cannot remove the context in which the players are making these incredibly difficult decisions,” Home Affairs Minister Tony Burke said.
“The Australian government has done everything we could to make sure these women were provided with the chance for a safe future in Australia.”
Players Mona Hamoudi, Zahra Sarbali, and a team support staff member left Australia over the weekend for Kuala Lumpur, where they met up with other team members returning to Tehran.
The Iranian Football Association said the players would return to Tehran in the coming days after rejoining the rest of the team in Malaysia.
Iran’s Tasnim News Agency said the latest three to leave Australia were two players and the support staff member.
The three were “returning to the warm embrace of their family and homeland,” the news outlet said in a statement.
Government says women faced difficult decision
After the fifth woman decided to return home, Transport Minister Catherine King said the Australian government ensured the team members could stay.
“We understand the context in which they were making it must have been just incredibly hard and very, very difficult,” she told the ABC.
“They would have been facing enormous pressure from what was happening overseas in their home country as well. And … certainly, we are very proud that Australia has offered that choice to these women.
“And ultimately it is their choice.”
Human rights activists from the Iranian community in Australia have responded with sadness to the news.
Iranian-born Sydney councillor Tina Kordrostami said the intimidation from the regime was clearly very real.
“Their families are detained, some are even missing,” she said.
Ms Kordrostami, who serves on Ryde Council, believes a staff member from the management of the Iranian football team passed on messages to the players that contained threats to their families.
Opposition criticises Labor’s approach
While the federal opposition supported the government’s decision to offer the team asylum, Shadow Immigration Minister Jonno Duniam today accused Labor of “making a massive song and dance” of the issue, which raised the group’s profile.
“I fear that because of the fanfare, because of the celebration, because of what maybe the Iranian regime saw as a finger in the eye, they’ve now ramped up pressure on the family members of those who sought asylum here,” he said.
“I think it would be a very, very sad turn of events to have those [remaining] individuals who have made this massive decision to seek asylum, with huge consequences attached to it … then rescind that and go back to the devastation and horror that awaits them in Iran.”
Mr Duniam said the federal opposition would support the government if it decided to issue humanitarian visas to the player’s families, if they were able to leave Iran.
“If it was the most appropriate course of action to take, based on advice from intelligence agencies and Home Affairs, then of course, go down that pathway,” he said.
Jono Duniam accused Labor of “making a massive song and dance” of the issue. (ABC News: Matt Roberts)
Abul Rizvi, a former deputy secretary of the Department of Immigration, said the government’s handling of the Lionesses asylum claim was “unique”.
“I can’t remember an instance where the government has actually offered people the opportunity to apply for asylum publicly, that is quite unusual,” he said.
“It raised the profile of the whole group, and in some senses it put their families back home at even greater risk.”
“The government was under community pressure, media pressure, and pressure from Donald Trump to offer them all asylum, and so it did.
“But at the end of the day, if they all go back, you have to wonder under what circumstances they go back and what it means for them and their families.”
The Iranian team’s campaign in the Asian Cup started just as the US and Israel launched air strikes on Iran, killing the Islamic Republic’s supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.
They were eliminated from the tournament last Sunday.
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