The captain of the Iranian women’s football team which played in the Asian Cup in Australia has withdrawn her bid for asylum, state media said on Sunday, making her the fifth member of the delegation to change her mind.
A former player and a Persian-language television channel based outside Iran said the players had been pressured to reverse their stance through threats against families back home. But Iranian authorities have in turn accused Australia of pressuring the players to stay.
Captain Zahra Ghanbari, a striker and the national team’s top goalscorer, has withdrawn her asylum application and will now head from Australia to Malaysia and from there fly back to Iran, the state-run IRNA news agency said.
Three players and one backroom staff member had already, in previous days, withdrawn their bids for asylum and travelled to Malaysia.
Seven members of Iran’s visiting football delegation competing in the Women’s Asian Cup had sought sanctuary in Australia after they were branded “traitors” at home for refusing to sing the national anthem.
The football drama has unfolded against a backdrop of war in the Middle East unleashed by US-Israeli air strikes on Iran, which also followed protests against the clerical system that peaked in January.