A fifth member of the Iranian women’s football team has withdrawn her asylum application and left the country overnight, the federal government has confirmed.
Seven members of the team, including a player coach, were granted humanitarian visas by the Australian government last week while they were here for the Asian Cup tournament.
Members of the local Iranian diaspora campaigning for the women to stay say the staff member who was granted asylum was transmitting threats from the Iranian regime.
Government sources say they have reviewed these claims and have no reason to believe them.
Three members who had requested asylum decided to return in Iran on Sunday.
Players on their way to Tehran
The Australian Department of Home Affairs gave the three players requesting a return home several opportunities to reconsider their decision before honoring their request.
“While the Australian Government can ensure opportunities are provided and communicated, we cannot remove the context in which actors make these incredibly difficult decisions,” Home Affairs Minister Tony Burke said.
“The Australian Government has done everything it can to ensure these women have the chance to have a secure future in Australia.”
Players Mona Hamoudi, Zahra Sarbali and a member of the support team left Australia over the weekend for Kuala Lumpur, where they met other members of the squad returning to Tehran.
The Iranian Football Federation said the players would return to Tehran in the coming days after joining the rest of the squad in Malaysia.
Iran’s Tasnim news agency said the last three to leave Australia were two players and a support staff member.
The three men “returned to the warm arms of their family and their homeland,” the media 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 had ensured the team members could stay.
“We understand that the context in which they did this must have been incredibly harsh and very, very difficult,” she told the ABC.
“They would also have faced enormous pressure from what was happening overseas, in their home country. And… we’re certainly very proud that Australia has given these women that choice.
“And ultimately, it’s their choice.”
Human rights activists in the Iranian community in Australia reacted with sadness to the news.
Iranian Sydney city councilor Tina Kordrostami said the regime’s intimidation was clearly real.
“Their families are detained, some are even missing,” she added.
Ms Kordrostami, who sits on Ryde Council, believes a member of the Iranian football team’s management sent messages to players containing threats against their families.
Opposition criticizes Labor Party’s approach
While the federal opposition supported the government’s decision to offer asylum to the team, shadow immigration minister Jonno Duniam today accused Labor of “doing a massive song and dance” on the issue, raising the group’s profile.
“I fear that because of the fanfare, because of the celebration, because of what the Iranian regime may have seen as a finger in the eye, they have now stepped up the pressure on the family members of those who have sought asylum here,” he said.
“I think it would be a very, very sad turn of events for the (remaining) people who made this massive decision to seek asylum, with enormous consequences attached to it… and then reverse that decision and return 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 players’ families, if they were allowed to leave Iran.
“If this was the most appropriate course of action to take, based on advice from intelligence agencies and the Home Office, then by all means follow that route,” he said.
Jono Duniam accused Labor of “doing a massive song and dance” on the issue. (ABC News: Matt Roberts)
Abul Rizvi, former deputy secretary of the Immigration Department, said the government’s handling of the Lionesses’ asylum application was “unique”.
“I don’t remember a case where the government actually offered people the opportunity to seek asylum publicly, that’s quite unusual,” he said.
“It raised the profile of the whole group and, in some sense, 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 that’s what they did.
“But at the end of the day, if they all come back, you have to ask under what circumstances they come back and what that means for them and their families.”
The Iranian team’s campaign in the Asian Cup began just as the United States and Israel launched airstrikes on Iran, killing the Islamic Republic’s Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.
They were eliminated from the tournament last Sunday.
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