Two more members of the Iranian women’s football squad have reportedly sought asylum in Australia after the team competed in the Women’s Asian Cup.
A plane left Sydney airport on Tuesday night local time bound for Malaysia, reports said, with players and staff, ending a dramatic two days in which five players were granted asylum after refusing to return home.
Guardian Australia understands that seven people have sought asylum in Australia, including the five granted visas on Tuesday. Sources said one player and one staff member had not left Australia. As of Wednesday morning, it was unclear if the additional team members had been granted visas.
The office of the home affairs minister, Tony Burke, was contacted for comment. The minister was expected to provide further updates in Canberra on Wednesday morning.
Reports said the squad had left Sydney at 10.43pm local time on Malaysia Airlines flight MH140 bound for Kuala Lumpur but it was not clear what route they would take back to Iran. Their country’s airspace is closed due to the Middle East conflict.
The team had arrived in Sydney just after 8pm local time on Tuesday after leaving the Gold Coast where they had played their final game of the tournament on Sunday – a 2-0 loss to the Philippines.
After the granting of asylum to the first five players, supporters had gathered at the airport in the hope that more players or staff would try to remain in Australia. The speculation had built after the team became embroiled in controversy for refusing to sing the national anthem at their opening game 10 days ago, prompting threats of reprisals for “traitors” amid the US-Israeli attacks on the country.
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When it became clear the team were exiting via their plane’s rear door and were boarding a bus, the supporters shone their torches through the airport window. Supporters believed they saw someone from inside the bus appear to shine a torch light back. Some of the supporters were crying.
After the bus left, there was a tense conversation outside the gate between the supporters and Australian federal police officers. The supporters told the police that the torch shining back meant the person wanted help.
Five players, led by the captain, Zahra Ghanbari, were formally granted protection in Australia by Burke early on Tuesday morning. The group – who have been given temporary humanitarian visasoffering a pathway to permanent residency – have already been given an offer to train with A-League Women club Brisbane Roar.
Farak, one of the supporters, came to the airport with a recording which she said was of one of the player’s mothers, telling her to stay in Australia. She said she had received it from a friend in Iran and had planned to play it using a speaker when the player exited the plane.
“I’m pretty sure if she hears this she will want to stay,” Farak, who asked to use only her first name, told Guardian Australia before the players boarded the bus.
She was devastated the player did not get the chance to hear the recording. “It’s so sad,” she said. “What if something happens to this girl?”
Protesters had earlier tried to block the departure of the players’ bus outside their Gold Coast hotel before their flight to Sydney.
Protection offer
Advocates connected to the group believed more – including possibly some staff – were considering staying in Australia.
Burke had said on Tuesday morning the other team members had been provided with the option to stay. “We are making sure there are further opportunities where if people want to make a request [to stay] they get that opportunity,” he said.
Legal experts have expressed concern over possible offences committed under “exit trafficking” legislation, which prohibits the movement of people in and out of Australia using coercion.
The New South Wales anti-slavery commissioner, James Cockayne, called for “accountability” for people “undertaking criminal violations of Australian law while in Australia”. He wrote to the AFP commissioner, Krissy Barrett, on Monday night, referring “a case of suspected exit trafficking for immediate investigation”.
He said members of the Iranian team, CCTV and other eyewitness accounts could help determine whether crimes had been committed. “There’s certainly a duty to protect human rights under international law, and that includes robust investigation of credible allegations like we see here. Whether the investigation concludes that there is a criminal offence is for the investigating authorities to determine.”
He warned the decision to investigate might not only be that of the AFP. “There are obviously some complex geopolitical and diplomatic sensitivities that will be factors in government decision making on this issue.”
Tournament organisers have been the target of criticism for allowing the situation to get to this stage. The president of the players’ representative body Fifpro Asia, Beau Busch, said a human rights assessment should have been undertaken before the tournament.
Daniel Ghezelbash, the director of the Kaldor Centre for International Refugee Law at the University of New South Wales, said people’s lives depended on these kinds of protocols. “It is well documented that major sporting events enliven significant human rights risks, and a situation like the Iranian women’s team was a foreseeable eventuality.”
