'These women are prisoners' Iranian fans use Asian Cup to voice anti-regime chants

As Iran's national anthem began to trumpet around Gold Coast Stadium in Queensland, Australia, on Monday night, members of an Iranian fan group who had gathered near the halfway line began to unfurl red, white and green flags.

- Samantha Lewis

They were not the flags of their home nation, however. At least, not the nation they want to remember. “The flag is the Lion and Sun flag: our last known flag before the Islamic regime took over in 1979 and invented the new flag,” says Ara Rasuli, who was in the crowd.

“It is our national flag. The current regime does not represent us and their flag does not represent us. It doesn’t represent Iran.”

Recently revived as a symbol of opposition to the current regime, it was seen being waved in the stands at Iran’s opening game against South Korea in the Women’s Asian Cup. They knew how much the sight of it meant, especially for the players standing silently on the pitch below them, defiantly refusing to sing.

Since arriving in Australia against a backdrop of violence and terror back home, Iran’s players have been wrapped in a cordon of silence. Requests for media interviews have been refused and information about their open training sessions were removed from the official tournament schedule. Even mandatory press conferences have been handled cautiously, with a tournament media officer allowing just three “football” questions in each of the team’s pre-match appearances.