Iranian women’s team set to leave for Oman

SEPANG: The Iranian women’s football team will depart from Malaysia on Monday on a flight bound for Oman, a top Asian football official confirmed, after more team members withdrew their asylum bid in Australia.

The team arrived at the Kuala Lumpur International Airport shortly before 5.00 pm (0900 GMT), AFP correspondents saw.

Dressed in their national colours, players disembarked from a tour bus before heading towards the check-in at the airport.

Earlier in the day, the team slipped past reporters when leaving their hotel in the Malaysian capital, where they have been avoiding media since Wednesday.

Most team members declined to speak to reporters, but one member told AFP “I am missing my family.”

Windsor John, general secretary of the Asian Football Confederation, told AFP the Iranian team “informed us that they will be flying to Oman, but that’s not their final destination.”

READ MORE: Iran women’s football captain withdraws Australia asylum bid

“They will be in Oman probably until they find flights to their next destination,” Windsor said.

A source, who wished to remain anonymous, told AFP that the team was likely to travel from Oman to Istanbul, before going to the eastern Turkish city of Van and heading into Iran.

Among the players at the airport was Zahra Ghanbari, who withdrew her bid for asylum on Sunday, making her the fifth member of the delegation to change their mind.

A former player and a Persian-language TV 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.

Three players and one backroom staff member had already in previous days withdrawn their bids for asylum and travelled to Malaysia.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 initially 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.

Following the captain’s reported move to go back on her asylum request, only two of the team members are now set to remain in Australia.