The Telegraph – Several members of Iran’s national women’s football team have refused to board a flight home over fears of execution.
The 13-member squad was subjected to death threats after refusing to sing the Iranian national anthem at their first game of the Asian Cup, played in Australia two days after the US and Israel launched strikes against Iran.
Five of the players, including the captain, had escaped their handlers and sought asylum on Monday night.
On Tuesday, Tony Burke, Australia’s home affairs minister, confirmed that the women had been granted humanitarian visas and taken to a safe house.
Two more sought refuge at the last minute before their flight from Sydney to Iran via Kuala Lumpur, sources told The Telegraph.
Golnoosh Khosravi, a 24-year-old winger, is believed to have refused to board at the departure gate where activists protesting against their departure had gathered. One demonstrator held up a sign written in Farsi that read: “Golnoosh, your mum said to stay.”
Mohadeseh Zolfi, also requested and received asylum before the flight, according to Iran International, an independent outlet.
As the remaining players boarded the plane, some were seen crying. One had earlier been seen dragging her teammate on to the transport to the plane.
The team, nicknamed Iran’s Lionesses, had been described as “wartime traitors” by Iranian state media, which pushed for harsh punishments, after they did not sing the national anthem on March 1.
Their silence, interpreted as an act of protest two days after Iranian supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei was killed, made headlines around the world and turned them – willing or not – into symbols of resistance against the regime.
Their families in Iran were then threatened and some relatives detained.
Skylar Thompson, deputy director of HRA, a US-based Iranian human rights organisation, warned that the returning players “risk interrogation, travel bans, suspension from sport, or other forms of retaliation by the regime”.
However, their punishment might be more extreme. One source told Iranwire that the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) was planning to arrest the players and put them on trial for charges such as “cooperation with a hostile state” and “propaganda against the regime”.
The choice of some players to remain also brings its own risks. Ms Thompson told The Telegraph that the players’ families are likely to “face questioning, harassment, or other forms of pressure”.
“Iranian authorities have historically used pressure on the family members of activists, dissidents, and critics as a means of coercion and deterrence.”
The players who were granted asylum on Monday included captain Zahra Ghanbarim, Fatemeh Pasandideh, Zahra Sarbali, Atefeh Ramazanzadeh and Mona Hamoudi.
Their decision to flee was prompted by a message smuggled out of Iran, via Turkey, from a player’s family telling the women “to stay”, the Australian reported on Tuesday.
Just as news of their escape broke, Donald Trump criticised Australia’s government for making a “terrible humanitarian mistake” of allowing the team to be “forced back to Iran, where they will most likely be killed”.
“Don’t do it, Mr Prime Minister, give ASYLUM. The US will take them if you won’t,” he wrote on his Truth Social platform.
Minutes later, he retracted the comments after Anthony Albanese informed him the country was offering them refuge. “He’s on it,” wrote Mr Trump. “Five have already been taken care of, and the rest are on their way.”
At the airport, dozens of Iranian-Australians had tried to get messages to the players who were ringed by officials and Iranian security detail.
Australian media reported that during the tournament the women were guarded closely by officials belonging to the IRGC, denied access to mobile phones and their movements restricted.
After the team’s Asian Cup exit on Sunday, crowds had surrounded their bus, banging on it and chanting “let them go” and “save our girls”. One of the players appeared to be seen using sign language to signal “SOS” through the bus window.
Activists had urged Australian police to arrest their handlers and airline staff to block their entry on to the flight.
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