SYDNEY: Another Iranian football player and a member of the women's national team delegation were granted asylum in Australia after the team's exit from the Asian Cup, Home Affairs Minister Tony Burke said on Wednesday (March 11).
The two have joined five members of the Iranian women's football team who had already received humanitarian visas in Australia before the team was due to return home. The remainder of the delegation has since left Sydney and is on its way back to Iran.
Burke had informed the five players on Tuesday at a confidential location in Brisbane that the Australian government would grant them humanitarian visas. In a shared photograph, the women appeared alongside the minister without headscarves.
Burke said on Wednesday that all but a few members of the team had been offered asylum as they prepared to leave Australia. Australian officials took the players and support staff into a room, without any minders present, to extend them a similar offer, he added.
"What we made sure of was there was no rushing, there was no pressure. Everything was about ensuring the dignity for those individuals to make a choice," Burke said.
It had initially been unclear whether the entire delegation had boarded the plane in Sydney. The team had arrived in Australia shortly before the outbreak of the conflict in Iran.
The five players had sought protection during the Asian Cup on the Gold Coast and left the team hotel under police escort after coming under criticism in Iran over a silent protest.
During the team's first group match, the players remained silent while the national anthem was played.
In Iran, the gesture was widely interpreted as a sign of protest against the country's leadership, raising fears the players could face severe consequences if they returned home.
Iran's sports minister Ahmad Donjamali said all players who remained in Australia would be free to return to Iran and rejoin the national team at any time, according to the news agency ISNA.
He described the situation as a "political conspiracy," accusing US President Donald Trump and other "hostile actors" of trying to use the Asian Cup for propaganda purposes.
Mehdi Taj, president of the Iranian Football Federation, also claimed that pressure had been exerted on the players in Australia. He again raised the possibility that Iran's men's national team could boycott the World Cup later this year in the United States, Canada and Mexico. - dpa
