Five members of the Iranian women’s football team, nicknamed the Lionesses, have been granted asylum in Australia amid fears that their recent public refusal to sing the national anthem of the IRGC Islamic regime could lead to their persecution should they return to Tehran.
The five members are pictured above with Australia’sImmigration Minister, Tony Burke.
Australian PM Anthony Albanese has said that visas have been issued to five of the players, ensuring that they do not have to leave the jurisdiction. The remaining women have reportedly also been offered international protection.
The position of the remaining members of the team is unclear; however, it was reported that a number of them expressed fears for the safety of loved ones at home as their motivation to return home despite the perceived dangers.
Concerns for the women’s safety reportedly reached fever pitch after it was reported that members of the group had made the sign language symbol for ‘help’ after boarding a coach after their defeat at the hands of the Philippines at the Asian Cup tournament held on the Gold Coast last week.
Heir of the deposed Shah of Iran, Reza Pahlavi, had pleaded with Australian authorities to protect the woman, who plays football while wearing hijabs mandated by the regime, following Islamic Republic of Iran TV broadcasts in which the women were referred to as “traitors” and said that they should be “dealt with most severely”.
“Not singing the anthem is the highest order of treason,” the presenter said, adding, “both people and officials must treat them as traitors.”
“Write ‘traitors’ on their foreheads, and punish them severely,” the state broadcaster said.
Their refusal to sing the IRGC anthem was condemned by Iranian state TV as “the height of shamelessness and betrayal”.
Iran’s Islamic dictatorship has a history of imprisoning, torturing, and executing those it deems traitors, as well as subjecting female captives to rape to ensure that they cannot enter heaven after execution, according to Islamic belief.
U.S. President Donald Trump, who has declared war on Iran alongside Israeli forces, also called on Australia to ensure the players’ safety, with five of the women so far claiming asylum down under, saying that if Australia didn’t want to “take them”, the US would.
Pahlavi said, “The members of the Iranian Women’s National Football Team are under significant pressure and ongoing threat from the Islamic Republic.”
“As a result of their brave act of civil disobedience in refusing to sing the current regime’s national anthem, they face dire consequences should they return to Iran.
“I call on the Australian government to ensure their safety and give them any and all needed support,” he pleaded.
President Trump had made similar assertions, tweeting on Monday, “I just spoke to Prime Minister Anthony Albanese, of Australia, concerning the Iranian National Women’s Soccer Team. He’s on it! Five have already been taken care of, and the rest are on their way,”
A petition launched by the Australian Iranian Council asked local authorities to ensure that players seeking protection “can do so safely, privately, and without interference” and to “make clear that Australia will uphold its…humanitarian protection obligations in relation to any player at risk of persecution or serious harm.”
Since the beginning of the war, Iran has retaliated by firing on Bahrain, Iraq, Jordan, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates. An Iranian drone also reportedly struck a runway at a UK military base in Cyprus, according to Al Jazeera, although many of the missiles were intercepted.
The outlet also reported that Ali Jafarian, Iran’s deputy health minister, said that, over the last nine days, 1,255 people have been killed, with 12,000 injured.
It was reported that the victims range in age from infants to those in their late
After protests erupted across Iran, sparked by volatile economic conditions, crowds calling for the end of the Islamic Regime began to fill the streets, with many calling for the return of Pahlavi.
Reports estimated that tens of thousands of protestors were killed after IRGC-backed forces opened fire on them.