Six players and a manager for the Iranian national football team were granted asylum in Australia after the team was eliminated from the Asian Championships earlier this year.
Five returned to Iran, while Fatemeh Pasandideh and Atefah Ramezanisadeh remained behind.
Now they explain why the players on the national team refused to sing the national anthem before the first match of the tournament, even though they understood that they risked torture for the silent protest against the Iranian regime.
"At that moment, it felt like the only right thing, the thing that gave me a clear conscience, was not to sing. I want to be able to sing the national anthem with pride and from the heart. But because of the situation in Iran, I couldn't do it," Ramezanisadeh said on Australian television.
"I can't keep quiet"
Iranian television labeled the team "traitors" and the players then sang the national anthem and saluted ahead of the upcoming matches.
Ramezanisadeh says her parents asked her to return to the country.
"But I said I had made up my mind. Thinking that I might never see my family again breaks my heart, but I can't change my mind when so many young people have been killed by this regime. I can't stay silent, even though I miss my family so much," she says.
Dreaming of returning
None of the women have had contact with their families in recent months, but understand that their relatives have not been punished for defecting in Australia.
"One of my biggest dreams is to be able to go back to Iran, but under different circumstances, and that Iran has changed and the people are happy and well. Then I plan to go back and see my family," says Pasandideh.
