Soccer players in Iran risk the death penalty! Declared war traitors for their brave gesture before the match

In midweek, Iran's women's national soccer team lost 3-0 to South Korea, days after a joint US-Israeli military strike, and the players remained silent during their country's national anthem.

The refusal of Iranian soccer players to sing the national anthem before the match against South Korea has sparked harsh reactions. Mohammad Reza Shahbazi, a presenter on Iranian state television, said they should bear “the mark of shame and betrayal”, according to dailymail.com.

Mohammad Reza Shahbazi, a spokesman for the radical regime, said authorities should declare them traitors, a charge punishable by death in Iran.

Iran players face death penalty after refusing to sing Asian Cup anthem

“I will say only one thing: traitors must be dealt with more harshly in wartime. Anyone who does something against the country in wartime must be punished more severely. For example, the case of our women's football team that did not sing the anthem, the published photo and all the rest, which I will not discuss in detail.” Mohammad Reza Shahbazi said.

“Both the public and the authorities should consider these people 'war traitors'. This should not be seen as a simple complaint or a symbolic gesture. The mark of shame and betrayal must remain on their foreheads and they must be dealt with definitively and harshly,” Shahbazi said, as quoted by telegrafi.com.

Earlier in the week, the soccer players and their coach, Marziyeh Jafari, kept quiet during the singing of the national anthem, a gesture seen as a silent protest against the regime in Tehran.

This gesture took place just two days after the assassination of the supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, in an American-Israeli attack. For what they have done, they even risk being sentenced to death the moment they return home.

Unlike the match in the first round, the Iranian players sang the national anthem before the match against Australia, a match they lost 0-4.

“Imminent danger” for Iranian players

Given the situation, there are growing calls for the Australian government to urgently step in and help the players before they are forced to return to Iran

In a social media post addressed to Foreign Minister Penny Wong, Iranian journalist Ali Bornaei said the government should immediately grant political asylum to the female players as they were in “imminent danger”.

“These athletes face arbitrary detention and execution if forced to return,” Bornaei said. “Australia must not allow them to be sent back to a regime that regards silent protest as a crime worthy of the gallows.”

On social media, others also tagged Prime Minister Anthony Albanese and Home Secretary Tony Burke in several posts, calling for intervention.

• “Please do something. We cannot allow these young women to return to a country where they will be arrested and possibly brutally tortured. Please grant them asylum”;

• “Senator Wong, please act before something happens to these girls.”

Former Australian international and human rights activist Craig Foster has also called on football's international governing body to intervene. “The Iranian women players have one more match to play in this tournament. The threat to them and their families back home does not end with the final whistle. History tells us that.

FIFA and the Asian Football Confederation must issue a clear public statement stating that every player competing under their jurisdiction has the unconditional right to react or not to react to their own national anthem,” Foster said.