By Renju Jose and Alasdair Pal
SYDNEY, March 11 (Reuters) – Australian police helped two more members of the Iranian women’s soccer delegation slip their minders to claim asylum, but one has changed her mind and decided to go back to Iran, the country’s interior minister said on Wednesday.
Concerns about the players’ safety upon their return home grew after Iranian state television labelled the team “wartime traitors” for refusing to sing the national anthem during a women’s Asian Cup match in Australia earlier this month.
Home Affairs Minister Tony Burke announced in parliament that 21-year-old striker Mohaddeseh Zolfi and support staffer Zahra Soltan Moshkehkar had accepted the government’s open offer of aid on Tuesday evening after five players from the team were granted asylum a day earlier.
But “one of the two who had made the decision to stay last night had spoken to some of the teammates who had left, and had changed her mind,” Burke said, without specifying who had decided to return to Iran.
“In Australia, people are able to change their mind, people are able to travel. And so, we respect the context in which she has made that decision.”
Burke said the rest of the players have been moved to a safe location after the member who reversed their decision contacted the Iranian embassy, giving away their location.
Zolfi and Moshkehkar had been removed from the rest of the team with the aid of Australian Federal Police before they boarded a domestic flight to Sydney.
Before leaving the country, Australian officials separated the remaining team from their Iranian minders at Sydney airport and informed them of their options before they flew out of Australia. All those that made it to the airport elected to return to Iran.
“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,” Burke said during a media briefing in Canberra.
FEAR FOR FAMILIES
Burke said some players had asked him about the possibility of aiding their family members leave Iran.
“Obviously, when people are permanent residents, there are rights that they have in terms of sponsoring other family members. But all of it only becomes relevant if people can get out of Iran in the first place,” he said.
Some discussed their options with family but declined the offer to remain in Australia. The team has since reached Kuala Lumpur on their way to Iran.
The Kuala Lumpur-based Asian Football Confederation confirmed the team’s arrival, saying they were staying at a hotel in the Malaysian capital, without providing details.
“The AFC will provide all necessary support to the team during their stay until their onward travel arrangements are confirmed,” a spokesperson for the confederation said in a statement.
The Iranian embassy in Kuala Lumpur told Malaysian state news agency Bernama the players were doing well and “want to return home”.
The Iranian team’s campaign in the tournament started just as the U.S. and Israel launched air strikes on Iran, killing the Islamic Republic’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. They were eliminated from the tournament on Sunday.
A group of Iranians living in Australia gathered to protest against the Iranian government and surrounded the players’ bus in Gold Coast when they left the hotel for the airport.
Many also turned up at the Sydney airport on Tuesday evening while they were being transferred to the international terminal, television footage showed.
The office of Iran’s general prosecutor said on Tuesday the remaining members of the team were invited back to the country “with peace and confidence,” Iranian media reported.
(Reporting by Renju Jose, Alasdair Pal and Christine Chen in Sydney; Additional reporting by Rozanna Latiff in Kuala Lumpur; Editing by Chris Reese, Stephen Coates and Saad Sayeed)
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