Last night, Burke disclosed to News Corp that more players have submitted asylum applications. His office is currently being approached to verify the precise figures.
At Sydney airport, supporters were urgently attempting to relay a message from the family of one of the athletes, expressing their desire for her to remain in Australia.
“Her mother contacted us just moments ago, requesting that we keep her here,” shared Minoo Toussi, co-founder of the Australian Iranian Patriots Association, with reporters at the airport on the previous evening.
“She doesn’t wish to return. From what I understand, the Australian government and AFP have a duty to provide a safe environment for these women and ensure they are not sent back, as they face significant pressure,” Toussi stated.
“These women are caught between a rock and a hard place. They need to stay here, because if they head back to Singapore or Kuala Lumpur, and eventually return to Tehran, imprisonment awaits them,” she explained.
Toussi and her husband, fellow co-founder Maani Taghizadeh, were anxious that the message might not have been received. However, Karimi confirmed through emerging social media reports that she was among the women who managed to remain in Australia.
“It’s amazing, man,” Karimi said.
“How do you feel? You save nine lives. What would you like? What to feel? It’s amazing.”
It wasn’t clear how the women had been able to separate themselves from the rest of the travelling party, including IRGC minders, but Karimi said they’d all eventually been interviewed by the AFP.
“We are begging for three days – are begging them for three days,” Karimi said.
“Separate our girls, they are in pressure, separate them and interview them.
“Why it is the interview happened just now in the airport? They’ve been in the hotel for three days, no one could interview them.”
Burke’s office and the AFP were contacted for comment overnight.Â
Earlier in the evening, there were distressing scenes as protesters on the Gold Coast attempted to block the bus as it left the hotel.
Supporters lay down on the road and chanted “save our girls” as police attempted to move them along.
Players appeared to pull one of the women towards their bus as they left the hotel, in vision filmed by the Brisbane Times.
They touched down at Sydney’s domestic airport last night and boarded a waiting bus that was expected to take them to the international terminal.
The Sydney Morning Herald spoke to several players flanked by chaperones as they left Australia late last night, many saying they wanted to return to their families despite fears for their safety.
“Iran is home,” one said but the body language of some women reportedly told a different story, with tears streaming down the faces of the last of the women to board.
The team grabbed worldwide attention last week when players refused to sing Iran’s national anthem before a game in the Asia Cup and they were branded “traitors” by the Islamic regime.
They were seen flashing their torches towards the arrivals hall where supporters were waiting along with Australian Federal Police officers.
Five of the women escaped their handlers at the Gold Coast hotel with assistance from the AFP on Monday night.
Burke said this morning that the women had been “moved to a safe location”, where he met with them and approved their humanitarian visas.
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