Five members of the Iranian women’s football team have been granted humanitarian visas in Australia after their elimination in the Asian Cup.
It comes after the United States President Donald Trump urged the Australian government to grant asylum to the Iranian women’s team.
There have been fears that the team could face persecution if they returned to Iran after they were eliminated on Sunday, losing 2-0 to the Philippines. They were branded ‘traitors’ by Iranian media after they failed to sing the national anthem before their first match at the Asian Cup in Gold Coast amid the ongoing conflict in the Middle East.
In a statement, Immigration Minister Tony Burke said the women “were moved to a safe location” by Australian police. He said other squad members had been told they are welcome to stay in the country.
Burke said the five players were happy for their names to be confirmed as Fatemeh Pasandideh, Zahra Ghanbari, Zahra Sarbali, Atefeh Ramazanzadeh, and Mona Hamoudi.
“They want to be clear they are not political activists. They are athletes who want to be safe,” he said, adding that talks had been going on over several days.
He said that on Monday, “it was made clear that there were five women who wanted to be able to stay in Australia”.
Burke said he met the women at the safe location and then signed off for their applications to go onto humanitarian visas – a process completed at about 01:30 local time on Tuesday (15:30 GMT Monday).
It’s unclear what repercussions there might be for the players’ families as a result.
“I say to the other members of the team, the same opportunity is there. Australia has taken the Iranian women’s soccer team into our hearts. These women are tremendously popular in Australia.
“But we realise they are in a terribly difficult situation with the decisions that they’re making,” Burke said.
The group left their hotel the same day and were moved to a safe location by police. Shortly after they left, the BBC witnessed some of their minders running across the hotel to try to find them – but they had already gone.
Australia’s humanitarian visa programme grants permanent protection to refugees and people in humanitarian need. Visa holders can live, work, and study in the country.
The remainder of the team has been taken to Gold Coast Airport and is expected to fly to Sydney later this evening.