The captain of the Iranian girls’s soccer group has withdrawn her bid for asylum in Australia, Iran’s state media says, making her the fifth member of the delegation to vary her thoughts after her group’s participation within the Asian Cup.
Zahra Ghanbari will fly from Malaysia and journey to Iran inside the subsequent few hours, the IRNA information company mentioned on Sunday.
Three players and one backroom workers member had already withdrawn their bids for asylum and travelled to Malaysia from Australia, the place the group participated within the AFC Girls’s Asian Cup.
Australia’s Residence Affairs Minister Tony Burke mentioned his nation had offered asylum to all gamers and assist workers members previous to their departure over fears they could be punished upon their return dwelling after the group refused to sing Iran’s nationwide anthem on the event.
Iranian state broadcaster IRIB reported on Saturday that the three had “given up on their asylum utility in Australia and are presently heading to Malaysia”, posting an image of the ladies allegedly boarding a aircraft.
The information was confirmed by Burke a couple of hours later.
“In a single day, three members of the Iranian girls’s soccer group made the choice to affix the remainder of the group on their journey again to Iran,” Burke mentioned.
“After telling Australian officers they’d made this resolution, the gamers got repeated possibilities to speak about their choices.”
5 gamers took up the provide and signed immigration papers final week, with yet one more participant and a member of workers becoming a member of them a day later. It leaves two Iranian gamers in Australia, the place they’ve been promised asylum and a chance to settle.
Iran performed their three group video games of the Asian Cup on the Gold Coast Stadium in Queensland on March 2, 5 and eight, after the US and Israel launched their struggle on Iran on February 28.
The preliminary assaults killed Iran’s Supreme Chief Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and different leaders.
Total, an estimated 1,444 Iranians have been killed for the reason that struggle started, together with greater than 170 individuals, largely schoolgirls, who have been inside a major college within the metropolis of Minab.
After refusing to sing the Iranian nationwide anthem at their first match, gamers on the Iranian girls’s soccer group have been branded “traitors” by an IRIB presenter.
When Iran performed their second recreation of the event towards Australia three days later, not solely did the gamers sing the national anthem, however in addition they saluted it, prompting fears that they could have been pressured to vary their stance after receiving backlash in Iranian media.
Whereas neither the gamers nor the group administration defined why they shunned singing earlier than the primary match, followers and rights activists speculated that it could have been an act of defiance towards the Iranian authorities.
On the day of the group’s departure from Australia, Burke introduced his authorities had supplied all gamers and workers members the prospect to remain again within the nation.
On Tuesday, Burke instructed reporters that 5 Iranian gamers had determined to seek asylum in Australia and could be assisted by the federal government.
“They’re welcome to remain in Australia, they’re protected right here, and they need to really feel at dwelling right here,” he mentioned.
A day later, Burke confirmed that a further participant and a member of the group’s assist workers had acquired humanitarian visas within the hours earlier than their departure.
Nonetheless, one participant, who beforehand selected to remain behind, modified her thoughts and determined to return to Iran.
The participant, who was later recognized as Mohadese Zolfigol, modified her resolution on the recommendation of her teammates, Burke instructed the Parliament of Australia.
“She had been suggested by her teammates and inspired to contact the Iranian embassy,” he mentioned.
The gamers who managed to flee with the assistance of Iranian rights activists have been taken away by Australian police officers to a protected home, the place they met immigration officers and signed the paperwork.
“Our understanding is that each single member of the squad was interviewed independently by the Australian Federal Police,” Beau Busch, the Asia/Oceania president of gamers’ welfare physique FIFPRO instructed Al Jazeera final week.
“[The players] have been made conscious of their rights and the assist accessible to them. They actually weren’t rushed by that course of.”
