‘Players are hostages’: Iran’s women backflip on anthem
Joel Gould and George Clarke |
Iran’s players have sung and saluted their national anthem prior to their 4-0 Women’s Asian Cup defeat by Australia after anti-regime protesters called the players hostages of the current autocracy.
The players made global headlines when they did not sing or salute the anthem in the lead-up to Monday night’s 3-0 loss to South Korea.
Dissident Iranians booed during the anthem of the Islamic regime as the players reversed their previous actions with a military salute at the Gold Coast on Thursday.
Australian-based protesters against the Iranian regime have said the country was using the women’s football team to normalise their alleged crimes.
In the hours before Iran’s Women’s Asian Cup clash with Australia, about 50 Iranian Australians chanted ‘thank you Bibi, thank you Trump’, in reference to Israel Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and US President Donald Trump authorising the bombing of Iran which has killed Iran’s supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.
“I think the players are hostages of the Islamic regime who are trying to normalise their crimes they have committed on Iranian people,” Azin Naghibi told AAP.
“Give the players one second of a chance and they would get rid of that mandatory hijab first thing. If they had free speech and weren’t being controlled, I am sure most of them would join us and be aligned with the 90 million other Iranians.
“We are here to support their emotions because they are under pressure and we are their voices in the Iranian diaspora.”
Iran coach Marziyeh Jafaribaravati said the players took a lot of self-belief from competing against Australia and had a message for the team’s supporters.
“I appreciate the fans that have supported us in Australia,” she said.
Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez has slammed the war against Iran as illegal while French President Emmanuel Macron said the US-Israeli strikes on Iran that killed Iran’s supreme leader were conducted “outside of international law”.
Naghibi said that the actions of Trump and Netanyahu were necessary.
She said she was “a freedom fighter” who had been in Australia for over 12 years after fleeing Iran for her own safety. She protested against the regime and was in the streets when there was bloodshed after the protesters were harmed .
“Iranians cannot get rid of this brutal regime. It would cost more innocent lives to be killed,” she said.
“With their bare hands it would take many years to get rid of this regime and cost many more lives. We needed this intervention.”
Hesam Orouji also said the women’s football team were being held like hostages and said the US and Israeli bombing was justified.
“Ayatollah Khamenei is our Adolf Hitler so we are happy and we think this time we can be free in Iran,” said Hesam Orouji.
“They occupied my country for 47 years and they killed thousands of Iranians.
“They spent all their national wealth just to support terrorism but now we’re almost there – a free Iran, that is going to change the world.”
AAP