Australian government, FIFA urged to protect Iranian football team

Well, the Australian government is tonight being urged to allow the Iranian women's football team to remain in Australia for protection. The push comes as Amnesty Australia says the players could face punishment from the Islamic Republic regime for choosing not to sing the national anthem before their first game. The human rights group told the ABC the players should be granted asylum and that there's no way that they can go back to Iran. The team's due to depart Australia after their final group game against the Philippines tonight. I want to say about the Iranian women's team that it has been really moving for Australians to see them in Australia and that Matilda's swapping jerseys with them was, I think, a very evocative moment. It spoke to solidarity and the way in which sport can bring us together. We know this regime has brutally murdered many of its own people. We know this regime has brutally oppressed many Iranian women. And we stand in solidarity with the men and women of Iran and particularly Iranian women and girls. I don't want to get into commentary about the Iranian women's team. Obviously this is a regime that we know has brutally cracked down on its people. Former soccer and refugee advocate Craig Foster says football's governing body FIFA must step in to help the Iranian team. Well, my concerns are the same as much of the Australian football community, many Australians, and in fact much of football around the world. And that is the risk that this Iranian women's team, I think, are very clearly facing. And the fact that we're still waiting for the AFC and FIFA, who are the regulatory governing bodies of the Asian Cup and of all FIFA properties, to step in to ensure to the satisfaction of, I think, all Australians and certainly our football community that this group is going to be safe, and in particular that they are being granted their basic rights within the Iranian national team camp to be able to access external networks, external support, outside communities, outside legal help, and anything else that they may be requiring at this time. Craig, do we know if any of them want to claim asylum? I don't think that's clear at the moment. And that is very largely because communication from within the camp to outside is virtually zero, has been cut off. And that's the major concern here. So if we look at what the responsibilities, obligations of FIFA and the AFC are, for example, that is to ensure that any football player, any athlete, female or male, whenever they're in a FIFA regulated environment, which this is, it's a major tournament, or even if they're in camp, so they're under the auspices of a FIFA member federation, in this case Iran, that players have personal autonomy, that they have their basic human rights, they have freedom of speech, such as the protected action of their first game, to be silent during a national anthem, which they are perfectly entitled to do, and that they're able to make clear if they're feeling unsafe in any way, either now, during the tournament, in the next 24 hours or so, or in fact in future. So these governing bodies, FIFA in particular, who has the power, should be stepping in, in my view now, into this camp environment to be ensuring that these players are not being put at risk, and in fact that they have their own personal voice and they can speak up if they're feeling unsafe. What, as you understand it, Craig, is the consequence for being a traitor in Iran, not singing the national anthem could be considered to be a traitor? Well, we know for a fact that there was a comment made on state Iranian TV, designating this team or characterising them as wartime traitors. I'm not an expert on Iranian law, but I think my understanding is that that could have extremely grave consequences. What we do know, as a human rights activist, or advocate if you like, because I've been working with many human rights groups in Iran over the last decade or so, and constantly advocating for the rights of Iranian athletes who are very often targeted, whether it's weightlifters, footballers, judokas, a whole range of them, and in fact a number of them in recent years have faced extrajudicial executions. So we've ran a number of campaigns to try and save the lives of those people, and that hasn't been successful. So what that means for all Australians is that we can assume that this is likely an extremely serious and grave situation, and that's why the regulatory bodies need to step in, in my view. It's why also the Australian government needs to be absolutely clear about the possible ramifications of allowing this to occur. So let's just say in this scenario that the players are not being allowed to contact people external to the group, which is against their rights, but this is occurring in Australia, on Australian soil, and during an Australian sporting event. That's completely inappropriate, if not illegal. Yeah, I'm sure you get though that the women that are playing are also fearing for their friends and family back home, so any move they make has to be carefully calculated. Well, I think that's obvious. The point that I'm making is that they have to be provided with the opportunity to make their own decisions. That's not that those decisions should be influenced by anyone external to the group. That's not the point I'm making. What I'm saying is that FIFA and the AFC have a responsibility to ensure that every player in that group is asked, are they feeling safe or otherwise, what would they prefer to happen or otherwise, and what choices would they like to make, independent of the national governing body of football or Iran, or indeed any pressure that may be coming from the government. That's the point. It's not about what I want or what Australians want or anyone else. It's about what these players want. And the real risk that we're facing at the moment is that they're not able to do that. Now, that is not only their basic human right, but it is the right of every athlete. Just because you're in a national team environment, whether Iran or otherwise, that does not mean that athletes cease to become autonomous people, autonomous humans. For example, they cannot be abused in various ways and their rights cannot be breached. It appears, I think, to all of Australians and certainly to me, that those rights are very likely under threat at the moment and that the consequences of that may be so severe that not only should the FIFA and AFC step in and ensure that's not occurring, but so too should the Australian government. Put your athlete, your footballer hat on, if you will. These women, this team came here to play in a major tournament. You wonder how they're concentrating on the football. Well, it's extraordinary courage to even be able to play. Yes, that's true. This, of course, was already occurring prior to them arriving here in relation to the attacks, egregious human rights abuses on Iranian peaceful protesters as well by the Iranian government. We know that and therefore they've arrived here in this context. I think you've made a good point and the point that should be made is that, you see, FIFA is maybe the only major global sport that actually has a human rights policy, which allows me to talk in these terms of the rights that the players have, because FIFA must grant them to them. But also when it comes to major events, FIFA are bound to conduct a pre-event due diligence of human rights. Now, leading into this tournament, it was very obvious that this was a potential scenario. Players feeling unsafe, they may, I think we could contemplate, like their male team in 2022 made the identical protest by not singing the anthem in their first game of the male World Cup. And it appears that the women have just replicated that. So that was pretty obvious that these things could occur. And so processes should have been put in place by FIFA pre-tournament to ensure that in this precise scenario, players have access to safe and private channels of communication and conversation so that they can communicate what they need to happen now to ensure for all our benefit. And I'll say this again, this is a tournament on Australian soil. We have a responsibility to make sure that the rights of all of the athletes who are participating here are not violated on our watch. And therefore, I think we all have a duty to make sure that's not occurring. Craig Foster, thank you. Okay.