Australian Authorities Grants Asylum To Iranian Ladies’s Footballers Fleeing ‘Wartime Traitors’ Label
The 5 of the 13-member squad have been granted asylum by the Australian authorities on Monday amid apprehension that they’d be persecuted in the event that they return to Tehran. An ABC Information report said that at the very least seven members of Iran’s girls soccer group have sought asylum in Australia.
The Australian police moved Iranian girls soccer gamers “to a protected location,” Immigration Minister Tony Burke mentioned. The minister added that different group members of the squad have been knowledgeable that they have been welcome to remain within the nation.
Soccer gamers labelled ‘wartime traitors’
As Iran’s girls soccer group participated within the Asian Cup being held in Australia, the gamers refused to sing the Islamic nation’s nationwide anthem and stayed silent earlier than the facet’s Asian Cup opener towards South Korea earlier this week and the soccer group was labelled as “wartime traitors” by an Iranian state tv presenter, New York Instances reported.
The lifetime of Iran’s girls’s nationwide soccer group is at risk.
Mohammadreza Shahbazi, the safety anchor of the Islamic Republic of Iran’s state tv, formally accused the Iranian girls’s nationwide soccer group of treason for not singing the nationwide anthem and demanded that they be punished as traitors through the battle.
The punishment for treason through the battle in Iran… pic.twitter.com/L4GxaOHTBZ— Ali Bornaei (@abornaei) March 5, 2026
The state TV presenter Mohammad Reza Shahbazi, in a video which has since gone viral on social media, referred to as out the Iranian girls soccer group gamers and mentioned the group members must be handled “severely” for “dishonour and lack of patriotism”.
Australia’s humanitarian visa programme grants safety to refugees and people who find themselves in humanitarian want. Those that obtain the visa, can reside, research and work within the nation, BBC reported.
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How did Iranian girls soccer group escape lodge?
Discussions for asylum had been ongoing for a number of days when the Iranian soccer group members refused to sing the nationwide anthem as supporters raised fears for his or her security. Minister Burke, who was on the airport, mentioned that border power officers made a number of representations to the group earlier than departing Sydney.
Final evening I used to be capable of inform 5 girls from the Iranian Ladies’s Soccer group that they’re welcome to remain in Australia, to be protected and have a house right here. pic.twitter.com/2JQp9q9Z8W
— Tony Burke (@Tony_Burke) March 9, 2026
After 5 Iranian girls soccer gamers confirmed their consent to hunt asylum within the nation, the Australian police extracted the gamers from the group’s lodge and moved them to a protected location right here they continue to be beneath Australian Federal Police’s safety.
The ladies Iranian gamers who have been granted asylum are:
- Ghanbari
- Zahra Sarbali Alishah
- Mona Hamoudi
- Atefeh Ramezanizadeh
- Fatemeh Pasandideh
A number of supporters had gathered exterior the Sydney Worldwide Airport on Tuesday and crowds broke into cheers as unconfirmed information unfold that other than 5 gamers who’ve already sought asylum, two extra gamers had chosen to remain in Australia, ABC Information reported.
The report additional added that teh remaining Iranian group departed Sydney on Tuesday night for Kuala Lumpur.