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How the Iranian women’s soccer team escape unfolded · The Morning Edition

• 0:01
  S1: It reads like something out of a Hollywood script. Five
• 0:05
  S1: female Iranian soccer players in Australia competing for the Asian Cup.
• 0:10
  S1: Escaping from their handlers in the night to seek refuge
• 0:13
  S1: from their home country, which is in the middle of
• 0:15
  S1: a war with the US and Israel. Another two women,
• 0:20
  S1: a player and a member of the team's support staff,
• 0:23
  S1: made the decision to join them a day later and
• 0:25
  S1: also remain in Australia. I'm Samantha Cylinder Morris, and you're
• 0:30
  S1: listening to the Morning Edition from The Age and The
• 0:33
  S1: Sydney Morning Herald. Today. Crime and justice reporter Amber Schultz
• 0:38
  S1: joins us from Malaysia, where she has been tracking the
• 0:40
  S1: rest of the team on their journey home to Iran. So, Amber,
• 0:48
  S1: first off, can you just tell our listeners and our
• 0:51
  S1: viewers if they're watching this where you are?
• 0:54
  S2: So I'm currently in Kuala Lumpur, which is where the
• 0:57
  S2: Iranian football team, the lioness, departed from their flight from Sydney.
• 1:00
  S2: So we're all in the same city here in Malaysia.
• 1:03
  S1: And okay, so we've seen the headlines, but can you
• 1:06
  S1: just remind us what this story is all about and
• 1:08
  S1: how it's unfolded such that you have now, you know,
• 1:11
  S1: raced off to to fly to Kuala Lumpur?
• 1:14
  S2: So the Iranian soccer players came to Australia to play
• 1:17
  S2: part of the Asia Cup. And during their match, they
• 1:21
  S2: refused to sing the national anthem or salute. And that
• 1:24
  S2: led Iranian media to call them wartime traitors, which means
• 1:27
  S2: that they could face some very, very serious ramifications and
• 1:31
  S2: persecution at home in Iran following their last match. There
• 1:36
  S2: was sort of this dazzling escape where five of them
• 1:39
  S2: managed to to slip out of the watchful eye of
• 1:43
  S2: their chaperones and meet with Home Affairs Minister Tony Burke
• 1:46
  S2: and get visas. That number has now increased to seven.
• 1:49
  S2: So there are seven players that have stayed while the
• 1:51
  S2: remaining have returned to Iran.
• 1:53
  S3: And an incredible escape. The Iranian women's soccer team is
• 1:56
  S3: tonight at the centre of an international asylum drama.
• 2:01
  S1: And I believe there was some dramatic scenes of tension
• 2:04
  S1: when these players actually were about to board the bus
• 2:07
  S1: from the Gold Coast to leave.
• 2:09
  S2: There were. So there were protesters trying to stop these
• 2:12
  S2: women from leaving, and they were yelling, save our girls!
• 2:17
  S2: There was also one woman who seemed to be led
• 2:19
  S2: by the arm, by another woman, maybe showing that she
• 2:22
  S2: didn't want to board that bus. A lot of the
• 2:24
  S2: advocates as well, have interpreted messages that they've been getting
• 2:28
  S2: from the girls, such as flashing their phones as their
• 2:30
  S2: bus was on the tarmac at the airport, as SOS
• 2:33
  S2: signals or as trying to communicate. They've also been sending
• 2:36
  S2: messages to the women via Instagram and WhatsApp, and while
• 2:39
  S2: the women haven't replied, they have given love heart emojis
• 2:42
  S2: or reacted emojis, which again, the Iranians in Australia are interpreting,
• 2:46
  S2: as you know, acts of solidarity or cries for help.
• 2:50
  S1: And so given that SOS hand gesture, that sort of
• 2:52
  S1: brings to mind that there were members of this team
• 2:55
  S1: that perhaps would have liked to escape along with the
• 2:58
  S1: five and then seven members of the delegation that did
• 3:00
  S1: manage to stay in Australia. So do we know what
• 3:03
  S1: the mindset was of the team members who didn't flee.
• 3:07
  S1: Did they want to flee? Did some of them want
• 3:08
  S1: to flee and just weren't able to physically? Do we
• 3:11
  S1: know what's happened there?
• 3:12
  S2: Getting those five women alone, those initial five women alone
• 3:15
  S2: was incredibly difficult because they are chaperoned everywhere they go. Um,
• 3:20
  S2: so to be able to get those five separate from
• 3:23
  S2: everyone else to meet with, with Home Affairs Minister Tony
• 3:25
  S2: Burke was a huge challenge in itself. You know, it's
• 3:28
  S2: also hard to say some of those women might have
• 3:31
  S2: really wanted to stay, but couldn't because of the the
• 3:35
  S2: risk that may have the risk that that presented to
• 3:38
  S2: their family or the potential risk that that presented to
• 3:41
  S2: their family. There was also, as we saw, one woman
• 3:44
  S2: being led onto the bus by her teammate. And as
• 3:47
  S2: I saw at the airport, another woman sort of being
• 3:49
  S2: gently taken by the hand and led towards the boarding gate.
• 3:52
  S2: So it's not clear whether those women, you know, really
• 3:54
  S2: could have stuck their haunches in and refused to go,
• 3:57
  S2: or whether there were other factors at play, such as
• 3:59
  S2: that risk to to their loved ones that maybe propelled them,
• 4:03
  S2: pushed them onto the onto the bus and onto the plane.
• 4:06
  S1: And so, okay, like you said, it's now a total
• 4:09
  S1: of seven members of the team that have remained in
• 4:12
  S1: Australia escaping from your reminders, just like you've said, that
• 4:15
  S1: was on the Gold Coast to seek asylum here. But
• 4:18
  S1: you then jumped on a flight with the remaining athletes
• 4:22
  S1: who were returning back to Iran. So tell us what
• 4:24
  S1: that flight was like.
• 4:25
  S2: It was interesting. So there were also protesters in Sydney
• 4:29
  S2: and a lot of media in Sydney, but they were
• 4:31
  S2: really being chaperoned and I suppose protected by police from
• 4:35
  S2: that protest activity. So there were being shuttled around, um,
• 4:39
  S2: through back doors and a little bit in secret. But
• 4:42
  S2: once they made it past security at the airport, which
• 4:45
  S2: is the point that you need a ticket to the flight,
• 4:47
  S2: there was no one else there except for me to,
• 4:49
  S2: to talk to them before we boarded the flight, all
• 4:52
  S2: of the women had an opportunity to talk with Australian
• 4:55
  S2: Border Force. And so I saw the the officers take
• 4:58
  S2: that stack of passports into another room. And Home Affairs
• 5:01
  S2: Minister Tony Burke confirmed that each was spoken to and
• 5:04
  S2: asked whether, you know, they were making this decision and
• 5:07
  S2: whether they wanted to make this decision.
• 5:09
  S4: We couldn't take away the pressure of the context for
• 5:12
  S4: these individuals of what might have been said to them beforehand,
• 5:17
  S4: what pressures they might have felt were there on other
• 5:20
  S4: family members.
• 5:21
  S2: Right as final boarding call was being announced, one of
• 5:25
  S2: the women walked away with police to have a conversation,
• 5:28
  S2: and it looked like she was not going to get
• 5:30
  S2: on the flight. Um, it turns out that she was
• 5:33
  S2: having a final conversation with her family, which in Iranian
• 5:36
  S2: blackout state is not easy to do. So that was
• 5:38
  S2: facilitated by the Australian government. But ultimately, she decided to board.
• 5:43
  S2: So there was a lot of tension, a lot of
• 5:45
  S2: conflicting emotions. And some of the women walked on board
• 5:49
  S2: the flight covered in tears.
• 5:51
  S1: And so tell us you're then on the plane. Did
• 5:53
  S1: any of the women speak to you? Did any of
• 5:55
  S1: them show signs of not wanting to be there, or
• 5:58
  S1: was it quite the opposite? Were they showing signs of
• 6:00
  S1: relief that you know, that they'd escaped what must have
• 6:03
  S1: been a very intense experience in Australia?
• 6:06
  S2: So before we boarded the flight, I spoke to a
• 6:08
  S2: few of the women. They did say that, you know,
• 6:11
  S2: Iran was their home. They wanted to return home and
• 6:13
  S2: they really wanted to see their families. Um, all of
• 6:16
  S2: them gave me the same answer, which made me think
• 6:19
  S2: perhaps there was a line that was being pushed. And
• 6:23
  S2: they spoke quite freely to me, you know, with with
• 6:25
  S2: that line describing their wish to see their family. Once
• 6:29
  S2: we got on the flight, I tried to approach a
• 6:31
  S2: few to ask them about who the remaining two or
• 6:34
  S2: the additional two players who stayed in Brisbane were, and
• 6:38
  S2: one of them just became really solemn. And she said,
• 6:40
  S2: I'm sorry, I cannot speak to you. I'm not allowed
• 6:43
  S2: to say so. It felt like as the flight got
• 6:46
  S2: further away from Australia, the tension rose and the women
• 6:50
  S2: maybe felt a little less free to speak. Saying that though,
• 6:53
  S2: any time they spoke to me, a chaperone intervened or
• 6:56
  S2: they deferred, or they were saying, you know, the same line. Um,
• 7:00
  S2: so they certainly weren't weren't free to give their opinion.
• 7:03
  S1: Okay. And so we are recording this Wednesday at lunchtime.
• 7:06
  S1: You are still in Kuala Lumpur. Do you have any
• 7:09
  S1: sense of what happens to this group now? Will they
• 7:13
  S1: just fly home to Iran? And what do we know,
• 7:16
  S1: if anything, about how they and their families might be
• 7:19
  S1: treated by the Iranian regime once they arrive?
• 7:23
  S2: So the women are currently in Kuala Lumpur. They'll be
• 7:25
  S2: taking a flight to Turkey. I'm told it's not clear
• 7:29
  S2: whether that flight is this evening or tomorrow, but from Turkey,
• 7:32
  S2: they'll then take another flight to Iran. It's really unclear
• 7:36
  S2: what sort of repercussions they'll face in Iran. There were
• 7:39
  S2: rumors circulating from some of the advocates who said that
• 7:42
  S2: they had been in contact with the families in Iran. Um,
• 7:46
  S2: one said that allegedly one of the soccer players, family
• 7:50
  S2: members had already been detained. So there is a risk
• 7:52
  S2: that there's sort of a punishment, a wider punishment to
• 7:55
  S2: the families. There's also a voice note circulating purporting to
• 7:59
  S2: be from one of the the women's mothers saying, don't
• 8:02
  S2: come home. It's not safe. Seek shelter in Australia. Um,
• 8:06
  S2: so it's unclear whether either of these claims are legitimate,
• 8:09
  S2: but either way, it's a really scary situation. And these women,
• 8:12
  S2: you know, may face real consequences for their decision not
• 8:16
  S2: to sing the national anthem and for their association with
• 8:19
  S2: those who decided to stay.
• 8:22
  S1: And so, Amber, finally, why do you think this story
• 8:25
  S1: has captured our attention to the degree that it has?
• 8:28
  S1: What is it about what's happening with these women?
• 8:31
  S2: I think Iran has been a point of interest for
• 8:34
  S2: a while, because the revolution was such a massive regime
• 8:37
  S2: change and such a massive shift. And then I think
• 8:40
  S2: as well, the the ongoing news about the brutality of
• 8:43
  S2: the regime has obviously, you know, captured, captured the world's attention.
• 8:48
  S2: Coupled with these current strikes from the US and Israel,
• 8:51
  S2: you know, there's a lot of concern about what's happening
• 8:53
  S2: in Iran, both what's being perpetrated by the government and
• 8:56
  S2: what people are being exposed to. And I think understanding
• 9:01
  S2: how many risks they faced, understanding how oppressive this regime is,
• 9:06
  S2: just the, I suppose, heroism and courage of these women to,
• 9:09
  S2: number one, defy the regime by by not singing the
• 9:12
  S2: national anthem and number two, by deciding to flee. I
• 9:16
  S2: think it's, um, you know, it's, it's an act of
• 9:19
  S2: courage that we don't often see.
• 9:22
  S1: Well, thank you so much, Amber, for your time.
• 9:24
  S2: Thank you.
• 9:28
  S1: Since we recorded this episode, one of the seven women
• 9:30
  S1: has decided to return to Iran. Home Affairs Minister Tony
• 9:34
  S1: Burke told Parliament on Wednesday afternoon that a 21 year
• 9:38
  S1: old player contacted Iranian officials on Wednesday morning and asked
• 9:42
  S1: to be collected. Burke said that the six other women
• 9:45
  S1: are being housed in a secure location. Today's episode of
• 9:52
  S1: The Morning Edition was produced by Julia Carcasole. Our executive
• 9:55
  S1: producer is Tammy Mills. Tom McKendrick is our head of audio.
• 9:59
  S1: To listen to our episodes as soon as they drop,
• 10:02
  S1: follow the Morning Edition on Apple, Spotify, or wherever you
• 10:06
  S1: listen to podcasts. I'm Samantha Selinger Morris, thanks for listening.