Three members of Iranian women’s football team return home after seeking asylum in Australia

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2026-03-15/three-members-of-iran-women-s-football-team-return-home/106456754

20 Comments

  1. Who knows what threats are being made against their families over this. They may have gambled on quick regime change and are now terrified for those left behind. When leaving for Australia they had to sign an agreement that their families would lose their house if they didn’t return. And that’s probably the best of it.

  2. FuckOffNazis on

    We have spent 32 years making our asylum system as adversarial as possible. We became a model to be copied by the far right in Europe and the US. We’ve tortured, and killed, and refouled asylum seekers. We’ve kept refugees separated from loved ones for over a decade. Just this last week we saw this government move to block asylum rights for people that could easily be these women’s families.

    Are we supposed to be surprised that people would look at us and find us incapable of protecting them?

  3. GalcticPepsi on

    Interesting how none of these articles ever try and find out why they are declining asylum and only continuing with more speculation.

  4. It was never going to end well. You would have to be an exceptionally strong individual to be able to withstand not only the thought that you will likely never see any of your family and friends, your home or anything familiar ever again but also the likelihood that your government will take reprisals against your *very* high profile asylum bid, and imprison and torture/execute said family members and will let you know this. I can understand once the adrenaline wears off and the reality sets in why some of them buckled because whatever decision they made was always going to be a Sophie’s Choice, and that’s a choice no person should ever have to make.

  5. People seem to miss there’s a fair bit of daylight between protesting against the government and wanting to see it bombed.

  6. yeahalrightgoon on

    Can’t blame them one way or the other. It’s disappointing, but we can’t force them to stay if they say they want to return. The reasons for their return are also likely something that shouldn’t be published.

  7. Suspicious_Theory212 on

    I can imagine it’s, “Do I go home to a government that hates me, or stay in a country that hates me and are bombing my family back home”. 

  8. Vivid-Protection6731 on

    I genuinely don’t understand why people from other countries want to move to the west. I mean the prices of homes are outrageous here.

  9. Suspicious-Ant-872 on

    No doubt when a boat carrying some Iranian asylum seekers turns up Murdoch media will drive a complete meltdown.

  10. Cack handed idea.

    Sure, if any of the team request asylum then it should be considered. 

    But for the government to offer it was making a lot of assumptions. 

    They are young people in a strange country. 
    They might not speak English. Their families are all back home. Would their families face reprisal?   

    Where would they live in Australia? Would they have path to staying I’m Australian permanently?

    So many questions. 

  11. Anon_in_wonderland on

    People need to know that we have agents of the IRGC here in Aus; plenty of them. Even if they had initially accepted the fate of their families at home they may not have considered encountering regime figures here as the dust began to settle.
    I doubt the 5 women spread far and wouldn’t be surprised if an IRGC asset intermingled amidst their supporters and they’ve since been further threatened here, too.

    Their case was so high profile; they wouldn’t have been hard to track.

  12. CosmicCheeseFactory on

    Now they know what the inside of several high end diplomatic buildings look like in Australia, complete with locations of rooms, cameras, where personnel are, etc. mission accomplished

  13. North-Initiative-266 on

    Serious question, how do you “return to Iran” currently?

    Like you can’t just book a flight home? Right?

  14. wilted-wombok on

    Iran will especially punish them for associating with Australia, given that we’re all buddy buddy with the USA and Isnotrealland.