"I don't want to begin to imagine how difficult that decision is for each of the individual women, but certainly last night it was joy, it was relief. People were very excited about embarking on a life in Australia."
"Early Tuesday, police officers transported five of the women from their hotel in Gold Coast, Australia, to a safe location after they made asylum requests. There, they met with Home Affairs Minister Tony Burke and the processing of their humanitarian visas was finalized."
"The women granted asylum were happy for their names and pictures to be published, he said. Burke added that the players wanted to make clear that they were not political activists."
Australia granted humanitarian visas to five members of Iran's women's soccer team who were visiting for a tournament when conflict erupted. The players were transported from their Gold Coast hotel to a safe location after submitting asylum requests, where Home Affairs Minister Tony Burke finalized their visa processing. The women expressed relief and joy about starting new lives in Australia. They requested their names and photos be published and emphasized they were not political activists. The decision followed days of advocacy by Iranian-Australian groups and U.S. President Donald Trump. Iran's football federation subsequently complained to international soccer bodies about alleged political interference.
Read at ABC7 Los Angeles
Unable to calculate read time
Collection
[
|
...
]