Trump urges Albanese to grant Iranian footballers asylum
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More news: Responding to reports that five members of the Iranian women’s football team are planning to seek asylum in Australia after separating from their delegation on the Gold Coast, US President Donald Trump said Prime Minister Anthony Albanese should grant the players asylum.
“Australia is making a terrible humanitarian mistake by allowing the Iran National Woman’s Soccer team to be forced back to Iran, where they will most likely be killed”, Trump wrote on Truth Social.
“Don’t do it, Mr. Prime Minister, give ASYLUM. The U.S. will take them if you won’t.”
The five players, Fatemeh Pasandideh, Zahra Ghanbari, Zahra Sarbali, Atefeh Ramazanzadeh, and Mona Hamoudi, are reportedly under the protection of Queensland police.
Five Iranian soccer players to seek asylum in Australia
The news: Five Iranian female soccer players have left their accommodation in Queensland and plan to seek asylum in Australia, according to media reports.
Sources told the Sydney Morning Herald and ABC that the five players are under the protection of Queensland police after separating from the rest of their delegation on the Gold Coast on Monday night.
The context: The five women including Fatemeh Pasandideh, Zahra Ghanbari, Zahra Sarbali, Atefeh Ramazanzadeh, and Mona Hamoudi, who all play for the Iran women’s national football team, refused to sing Iran’s national anthem before their opening match with South Korea at the Women’s Asian Cup earlier this month.
The move stoked fears that the women would be targeted by the Iranian regime upon their return to Iran, with Iranian state television presenter Mohammad Reza Shahbazi accusing the team of dishonour, calling them “wartime traitors” who must be “dealt with more severely”.
Exiled Iranian crown prince Reza Pahlavi posted on Twitter that his office has been informed that the five players “currently in a safe location, have announced that they have joined Iran’s national Lion and Sun Revolution.”
What they said: Commenting on the news, shadow minister for education and shadow minister for Indigenous Australians Julian Leeser said: “Reports this evening that several members of the Iranian Women’s Football Team have broken free from their handlers and are now under police protection are welcome. These reports also underscore the dire nature of the threats that some of these brave women may face back in Iran. The Iranian Regime are terrorists and murderers. They have killed 30,000 of their own citizens over the last month. We must take the fears of retribution seriously.”
