Australian official touts bravery of Iranian women’s soccer team as some receive asylum

At least six members of the Iranian women’s soccer team decided to stay in Australia and seek asylum instead of going back to their home country where they face war and the possibility of even worse if they decide to go back.

Five of the six members of the team were granted asylum on Tuesday. Two others were also seeking asylum, but one of them changed their minds. There were more than 20 members of the team who came to Australia to compete in the Women’s Asian Cup.

Tina Kordrostami, a councilor for the city of Ryde in Australia, told Fox News in an interview on Wednesday the reason why most of the girls decided to go back was because of their families.

“So, their family is the No. 1 reason that the girls want to go back home and the No. 1 thing they’re worried and scared about,” she said. “The second thing, as I mentioned, is all they have is in Iran, and they are fearful of their identity and losing anything that they have built over the last few years for it.

“I know for a fact that they don’t want to be living there. They are passionate athletes. They are women who, you know, have so much to say about their identity and who they are. And because they are in the public eye within Iran, they are restricted even more than others. No logical person would want to remain in that country, especially if they have the option to stay. You know, they had it so close that it was offered to them. And they were so close to having everything that they wanted. And yet they still chose their family over their own, live their own future.”

The team arrived in Australia before Israel and the U.S. launched a joint offensive against Iran on Feb. 28. The strikes led to the death of Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei.

Iranian players refused to sing their national anthem before an opening loss to South Korea last Monday, which was viewed by some as an act of resistance, which was dubbed by an Iranian commentator as the “pinnacle of dishonor.” The team didn’t clarify. But the players sang the anthem and saluted before their losses to Australia and the Philippines.

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As their time in the tournament came to an end, the possibility of at least some of the players applying for a humanitarian visa became a reality.

Kordrostami told Fox News she believed the Australian government could have done more.

“Here’s one thing that I believe the government should have done: they, immediately, after the first game, should have entered the girls’ hotel, they should have sat down with them,” she said. “Dismissing all of the security, all of the personnel they had there with them, with official key figures within our government as well. They should have sat down with these girls, and they should have laid everything out for them.

“They should have reached out to the diaspora and gotten all the contacts from the families. They should for allowed for them to have a clear, open conversation with their families within that room for however long they needed to. … Within a day, they should have put together a plan for these girls to seek safety for their families. … I am not happy today at all. I am so sad. I’m so concerned. And I just know that if we weren’t so limited by our rules and regulations, we could have potentially held on to the whole team.”

Kordrostami stressed the importance of what the women who left the team did.

“I want more people to be speaking about these girls,” she said. “These girls are a window into Iran for us, for everyone to understand exactly what people are living through. The control, the coercion, the restrictions, the limitations, this is the reality for 90 million people within that country.”

Australian officials stressed that they made every effort to give the Iranian team the option to stay.

Australian Home Affairs Minister Tony Burke said the chance for the players to consider asylum came down to last-minute discussions at Sydney Airport where the women were separated from their minders and had time to call their families.

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“Everything was about ensuring the dignity for those individuals to make a choice,” he said. “We couldn’t take away the pressure of the context for these individuals, of what might have been said to them beforehand, what pressures they might have felt there were on other family members.”

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

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