Australia grants humanitarian visas to more Iranian women’s team members amid safety concerns

 

Australia has granted humanitarian visas to two additional members of Iran’s women’s national football team after they chose to remain in the country over fears for their safety if they returned home.

Australia’s Home Affairs Minister, Tony Burke, confirmed on Wednesday that a player and a member of the team’s support staff accepted the government’s offer, bringing the number of Iranian team members granted asylum in the country to seven.

Five players had already been granted humanitarian visas a day earlier.

Burke said the same offer was extended to other members of the squad during discussions at Sydney airport before their departure. According to him, the visas provide a pathway to permanent residency in Australia.

“I made them the same offer that I made the five players the night before,” Burke told reporters, explaining that the government had prepared the necessary paperwork to immediately process the humanitarian visas for anyone willing to stay.

Australian officials reportedly spoke individually with most members of the team to explain their options before they boarded their flights out of the country. Burke stressed that the process was conducted without pressure.

“What we made sure of was that there was no rushing, there was no pressure. Everything was about ensuring the dignity for those individuals to make a choice,” he said during a media briefing in Canberra.

Some members of the squad consulted with their families before ultimately deciding to return home. The team has since arrived in Kuala Lumpur en route to Iran.

Concerns about the players’ safety intensified after Iranian state television labelled the team “wartime traitors” for refusing to sing the national anthem during an Asia Cup match hosted in Australia. 

The team’s appearance in the tournament coincided with a major escalation in tensions in the Middle East, following air strikes by the United States and Israel on Iran, which reportedly resulted in the death of Iran’s Supreme Leader, Ali Khamenei.

Iran was eliminated from the tournament on Sunday, but the controversy surrounding the team continued off the pitch. 

In Gold Coast, a group of Iranian protesters gathered outside the team’s hotel and surrounded the players’ bus as they departed for the airport. 

Similar scenes were reported at Sydney Airport, where demonstrators assembled during the team’s transfer to the international terminal.

Meanwhile, the office of Iran’s general prosecutor has urged the remaining members of the team to return home, assuring them they would be welcomed back “with peace and confidence,” according to Iranian media reports.