Political tug of war over Iranian women's soccer team prompts criticism in Australia

Refugee advocate says outcome ‘far from ideal’

Critics argue the outcome might have been different had the women been provided with independent legal advice earlier and the process not been so rushed.

“We ended up with an outcome that is certainly far from ideal,” said Graham Thom, advocacy coordinator for the Refugee Council of Australia, a non-profit umbrella organization representing asylum seekers.

“Hopefully the two who are remaining get the protection they need, but we just hope that those who have returned are also safe,” he added.

Iran has claimed victory in the extraordinary public relations battle that played out since Immigration Minister Tony Burke released to the media on March 10 a photo of him posing with five women who had accepted protection visas.

He said the women, who all appeared without head coverings, were happy for their names and images to be released to the media.

Refugee advocates were alarmed, asking if women raised under an oppressive regime could be expected to question the Australian government’s media strategy.

Kylie Moore-Gilbert, a political scientist at Sydney’s Macquarie University who spent more than two years in Iranian prisons on spying charges from 2018 to 2020, said “winning the propaganda war” had overshadowed the women’s welfare.

“Had these women quietly sought asylum without that publicity around them, it’s possible that the Islamic Republic officials might have, as they have in the cases of other Iranian sportspeople in the past who’ve defected ... simply allowed that to happen,” Moore-Gilbert told Australian Broadcasting Corp. this week.

Australia traditionally deals with asylum claims behind closed doors

Australia has traditionally handled asylum negotiations behind closed doors, conscious that the public spotlight can ramp up pressure and bring dangers to potential refugees and their families.

Concerns for the team’s welfare were raised when players decided against singing the Iranian national anthem before their first match of the Women's Asian Cup on the Gold Coast on March 2.

Iranian sports commentator Mohammad Reza Shahbazi calling the women “wartime traitors” in a television broadcast was widely cited by protesters demanding asylum for the team.

The gesture attracted global attention and was not repeated at the women's next match, at which they sang the anthem.

Shahram Akbarzadeh, professor of Middle East politics at Deakin University in Geelong, suspects the team hadn’t thought through the consequences of “expressing a political opinion” on the Iranian regime.

“Sometimes frustration overrides fear of consequences,” Akbarzadeh said.

“Unfortunately for these players, their act of defiance turned into a symbol of resistance against the regime and basically a cause to be played by the United States and the Iranian diaspora who were anti-regime to humiliate and embarrass the regime and to basically gain a political score from the situation,” he added.

US president intervenes

The stakes were raised when U.S. President Donald Trump used social media to call for the team to be granted asylum and telephoned Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese on the issue.

Albanese told the Trump that the first five, a four players and a team manager, had recently accepted offers of humanitarian visas.

Another two squad members chose to stay before the rest of the team flew from Sydney to Malaysia on March 10 after being knocked out of the competition.

“It quickly turned into a political dispute and political theater between Iran and the U.S. (and) Australia and of course the Iranians responded accordingly. They couldn’t be seen to be as embarrassed by their failure,” Akbarzadeh said.

All but two women who accepted asylum rejoined the team in Kuala Lumpur before the squad flew to Oman on Monday. Iranian state media reported they had returned to their homeland by bus from Turkey and were met with a welcome ceremony.

“We are so happy to be in Iran, because Iran is our homeland,” midfielder Fatemeh Shaban told a flag-waving crowd.

The reasons why five women changed their minds about creating new lives in Australia have not been made pubic, but there were expectations that the regime would threaten family members.

Shiva Amini, a former Iranian national soccer player who now lives in New York City, said she had been in contact with the two women who had remained in Australia, Fatemeh Pasandideh and Atefeh Ramezanisadeh, and some of those who had decided to return to Iran.

Amini was granted asylum in Switzerland in 2017 after the Iranian government threatened to sanction her for being photographed in the European country playing a casual game of soccer with men while not wearing the mandatory hijab, or headscarf.

“This is beyond sad that they couldn’t stay, because even if you get back to Iran, they’re gonna threaten your family,” Amini told The Associated Press on Tuesday.

Amini declined to elaborate on her conversations with players out of concern for their safety and the safety of their families.

She said the regime put pressure on at least one of the players, whom she declined to name, to return to Iran by threatening to harm her mother.

Iran says none of the women were pressured to give up asylum

Iranian foreign ministry spokesman Esmaeil Baghaei said none of the five women who changed their minds about staying in Australia had been pressured by Iran to return home.

“They didn’t seek asylum. They were forced to. They were coerced to. They didn’t do it voluntarily,” Baghaei told ABC on Thursday.

Asked if the two players who remained in Australia were being held against their will, he replied: “I guess so.”

Baghaei said Australian officials had asked the Iranian women to go to a room on the pretext of testing for performance enhancing drugs, and then told the women to sign visa papers and pose with Burke for photos.

“This was a shameful, sham posture,” Baghaei said.

Australia has denied pressuring the women to stay or go.

After the fifth refugee rejoined her team in Kuala Lumpa on Monday, Assistant Immigration Minister Matt Thistlethwaite described the team's plight in Australia as a “very complex situation.”

“These are deeply personal decisions, and the government respects the decisions of those that have chosen to return. And we continue to offer support to the two that are remaining,” Thistlethwaite said.

Associated Press reporter Philip Marcelo in New York contributed to this report.