Five players from Iran’s soccer team remain in Australia after refusing to sing the anthem at an Asian Cup match
Five of the players of the Iranian women’s soccer team have obtained humanitarian visas after requesting political asylum in Australia, where on Monday they played a match against the Australian team. The soccer players have requested asylum due to fear of reprisals that they may encounter upon returning to their country after refusing to sing the national anthem at the beginning of an Asian Cup match, the tournament equivalent to the Euro Cup.
“Australians are moved by the plight of these brave women,” Australian Prime Minister Antony Albanese declared this Tuesday at a press conference in Canberra, a day after the police helped the players escape from the official representatives accompanying the delegation. “They are safe here and should feel at home,” he added. The Australian Minister of the Interior, Tony Burke, explained that conversations with the athletes began in the early hours of Monday and that finally five of them expressed their desire to remain in Australia.
The players who have refused to return to their country have been identified as Zahra Sarbali Alishah, Mona Hamoudi, Zahra Ghanbari, Fatemeh Pasandideh and Atefeh Ramezanizadeh. They are under police protection at an undisclosed location. Albanese offered her country’s help to the rest of the players, but the rest of the delegation has already left by bus from their hotel on the Gold Coast to the town’s airport.
The Iranian soccer players were called “traitors” by Tehran for not singing the national anthem during their championship debut in a match against the South Korean team. The women’s team, which did sing the national anthem in its second and third games, concluded its participation in the tournament on Sunday after losing 2-0 to the Philippines.
US President Donald Trump praised the Australian leader for allowing the soccer players to stay in his country and also offered his country to host the players.
