Iranian women soccer players break free, seek asylum in Australia
Updated ,first published
Five Iranian female soccer players are being protected by police in Queensland after making a daring escape from their team’s handlers to avoid being sent back to likely persecution in their home country.
Multiple sources in the Iranian-Australian community said the women were receiving support after separating from the rest of their delegation at their Gold Coast hotel on Monday night.
“Police have taken them somewhere safe,” Hadi Karimi, a Brisbane-based human rights activist, said. “It’s great, it’s amazing.”
Human rights activist Minoo Ghamari said she understood five women had broken away from the team and that they intended to seek asylum in Australia.
Home Affairs Minister Tony Burke is expected to publicly address the issue on Tuesday.
The Department of Home Affairs is likely to provide the women with bridging visas to allow them to remain in Australia while any applications for refugee status are processed.
“Everyone is so happy for the girls. They would not have been safe if they went home,” said Shahzad Shirkhanzadeh, an active member of the Iranian-Australian community.
She praised the government for moving swiftly to ensure the players had the option to seek asylum in Australia before being forced to return to Iran.
As news broke of the escape, members of Australia’s Iranian diaspora danced and sang on the street at the Gold Coast location where they’d held a vigil for the team.
Protesters reported that Iranian officials were searching the lobby and grounds of the Royal Pines Resort on Monday night.
The players’ dramatic escape could have major political implications as the hardline regime in Tehran fights against the United States and Israel to hold on to power in a war that has spread throughout the Middle East.
Iranian state television presenter Mohammad Reza Shahbazi last week accused the team of dishonour for not singing the national anthem before their first match against South Korea on Monday, branding them “wartime traitors” who must be “dealt with more severely”.
Shahbazi’s comments had heightened fears that the women could be in danger if they return home, although staying in Australia could also pose risks for their loved ones in Iran.
The head of Australia’s soccer players’ union earlier said he was deeply concerned about the welfare of the Iranian players, as he revealed officials have been unable to contact the women about whether they would like to seek asylum in Australia.
Members of the team gave what appeared to be an SOS hand signal from their team bus on Sunday night as advocates pleaded for the Australian government to do everything possible to allow them to stay in Australia.
The Iranian team, known as the Lionesses, played their final match of the Women’s Asian Cup on the Gold Coast on Sunday night, losing 2-0 to the Philippines.
Footage taken after the match shows at least one woman on the bus appearing to make the international help sign to a crowd of protesters outside.
The gesture is performed by holding one hand up, tucking the thumb into the palm, and folding the fingers down over it.
Exiled Iranian crown prince Reza Pahlavi, who some members of the diaspora would like to see return to lead the country, announced the escape in a message to his 2.1 million followers on X on Monday night, saying: “These five courageous athletes, currently in a safe location, have announced that they have joined Iran’s national Lion and Sun Revolution”.
The lion and sun flag was used before the Islamic revolution in 1979 and is used as a symbol of opposition to the current regime.
This masthead has chosen not to name the women identified by Palavi for now, while the situation is evolving.
Earlier on Monday, he called on the Australian government to help the women, warning they faced “dire consequences” for their act of civil disobedience in refusing to sing the anthem.
Beau Busch, co-chief executive of Professional Footballers Australia, said on Monday afternoon, before the women escaped: “The reality at the moment is that we’re unable to get in touch with the players.
“That’s incredibly concerning, that’s not a new thing, that’s really been since the repression really dialled up in this – sort of February, January, etc.
“So we’re really concerned about the players, but our responsibility right now is to do everything within our power to try and make sure that they’re safe.”
There appear to be at least 20 women in the team, including substitutes, and it is unknown when the rest of the team are due to leave Australia.
Iranian airspace is still closed and when and how they will return home, and what consequences they will face, remains uncertain.
Mobina Fouladband, an Iranian migrant who moved to Australia to escape oppressive conditions, said the group had driven to Queensland from Sydney to support the team outside the Sunday night game.
“The Australian government should do everything that it can do,” she said.
“There is the war situation there, and there is the Islamic Republic. And honestly, I am more afraid of the Islamic Republic.”
The plight of the Lionesses, who arrived in Australia only a few days before the US launched its first attack on Tehran on February 28, has moved Australians watching them as they played their matches on the Gold Coast under close supervision of travelling officials.
A parliamentary inquiry heard that their entourage included suspected members of the listed organisation the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps.
On Friday, after Australia beat Iran 4-0, the Matildas swapped jerseys with the Lionesses, and Australia’s captain Sam Kerr paid tribute to their struggles and bravery.
More than 71,000 people have signed a petition since Friday calling for the government to ensure that no member of the team departs Australia while credible fears for their safety remain.
Iranian-Australian community leaders wrote to Home Affairs Minister Tony Burke on Sunday, urging him to ensure the women were fully informed about their legal protections in Australia.
The community leaders told Burke there were “serious concerns that Islamic Republic officials accompanying the team are closely monitoring the players and are intimidating them, including providing them with misinformation they would be sent to offshore detention to a ‘deserted island’ if they attempted to seek asylum in Australia”.
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