pti-Soumyaroop Mukherjee

Brisbane, March 17: Two players from the Iranian women’s football team have joined a practice session with a professional club in Brisbane in their first publicly shared appearance since it emerged they had been granted asylum in Australia. Fatemeh Pasandideh and Atefeh Ramezanisadeh were pictured smiling and wearing the club’s colors as they posed alongside a women’s elite squad in photos posted to Instagram by the Brisbane Roar on Monday.

The update came as the rest of Iran’s soccer delegation left Malaysia bound for Oman, apparently capping a tumultuous episode that saw Australia’s government offering most of the squad humanitarian visas after the team was knocked out of the Women’s Asian Cup.

Seven women initially accepted the asylum offer before five changed their minds and said they would return to Iran. Brisbane Roar, which plays in Australia’s elite A-League Women’s domestic competition, posted a welcome to “Fatemeh and Atefeh” on Instagram, along with an emoji of a lioness, a nod to the name the Iranian players are known by.

“We remain committed to providing a supportive environment for them whilst they navigate the next stages,” Brisbane Roar CEO Kaz Patafta wrote. Both women left comments on the post. “Thank you for everything,” Ramezanisadeh wrote. The club declined further comment and referred all questions to Australia’s Department of Home Affairs.

The Roar last week offered the women “a place to train, play and belong” in a statement on social media. They have been moved to an undisclosed safe location and are receiving assistance from the government, officials have said.

They have not given interviews, but Pasandideh posted to Instagram on Monday a photo of herself and FIFA Chief Football Officer Jill Ellis, overlaid with the words, “Everything will be fine.”

Teammates Head Home

Iran’s squad had arrived in Australia for the women’s continental championship shortly before the Israel-Iran war began on February 28. They drew global attention after some players stayed silent during Iran’s national anthem before their first game. The silence was cast as an act of resistance or protest by some commentators and a show of mourning by others. The players didn’t publicly disclose their views or explain their actions and sang the anthem before their next two matches.

When the team was knocked out of the tournament and faced the prospect of returning to a country under bombardment, calls grew for Australia’s government to offer the women asylum. Iranian groups in Australia and the United States, including President Donald Trump, were among those who expressed fears for the women’s safety, with some citing remarks by Mohammad Reza Shahbazi, a hardline sports commentator in Iran, who on television referred to the women as “wartime traitors” because they didn’t sing the anthem.

An Iranian official last week dismissed suggestions that the women would be unsafe if they returned home. “Iran welcomes its children with open arms and the government guarantees their security,” Iranian first Vice President Mohammad Reza Aref said. “No one has the right to interfere in the family affairs of the Iranian nation and play the role of a nanny who is kinder than a mother.”

Chaotic Assylum Saga

Australian officials publicly divulged details of their asylum offers to the women before the Iranian delegation left Australia, which included private airport meetings with each woman without team minders present.

A total of six players and one team staffer at first accepted humanitarian visas and guarantees of permanent residence in Australia, while their teammates departed Sydney for Kuala Lumpur on March 10.

Over the next few days, however, five of those who accepted asylum offers changed their minds and flew to join their teammates in Malaysia. No reasons have been given publicly for the reversals, though Australian news outlets reported that local Iranian groups had suggested the women had faced pressure from Tehran.

The remaining squad flew from Kuala Lumpur to Oman on Monday night. The Asian Football Confederation’s General Secretary Windsor John told The Associated Press the team’s departure was arranged by the Iranian embassy.

Asked if the Confederation was satisfied that the women would be safe in Iran, Windsor said his organization and FIFA would check on them regularly through the Iranian football federation “as they are our girls as well.”

<![CDATA[]]>