3 Iraqi Soccer Players Seek Asylum

BAGHDAD — Three members of Iraq’s Olympic soccer team and their assistant coach left the team during a trip to Australia and are seeking asylum in the country, Iraq’s soccer federation said yesterday.Meanwhile, Iraqi police said three officers were killed yesterday in an ambush on their checkpoint northeast of Baghdad.The soccer federation’s secretary-general, Tariq Ahmed, said the four disappeared at dawn Sunday from the home of colleagues in Australia, where they were staying after playing Australia’s Olympic team a day earlier.They did not show up at the airport for their scheduled departure with the rest of their team a few hours later, he said. The assistant coach, Saadi Toma, later phoned team officials and told them he and the three players were seeking asylum in Australia, Mr. Ahmed said.“It’s because of the deteriorated security situation and violence against athletes in Iraq,” Mr. Ahmed told the Associated Press by telephone in Baghdad.“We all face the same danger, but it doesn’t mean one should so easily abandon his team and defame his country’s reputation,” Mr. Ahmed said.He identified the players as Ali Mansour, Ali Khidhayyir, and Ali Abbas, who was a member of Iraq’s senior squad that won the Asian Cup this past summer.A spokeswoman for the Australian immigration minister, Kevin Andrews, speaking on condition of anonymity in line with government rules, said the players were still holding valid visas and had not applied for asylum in Australia. Regular visas are for three months, so the players would have some time before they need to submit asylum applications. She refused to identify the players.On Saturday, Australia beat Iraq 2–0 to move to the top of an Asian qualifying group for the 2008 Beijing Olympics. Iraq is scheduled to play fellow group members Lebanon and Syria this week.“This only shows disloyalty to the country,” Mr. Ahmed said.Soccer is popular in Iraq, where the national team’s successes in the past three years have provided a joyous distraction from the daily violence. When Iraq won the Asian Cup in July, Baghdad erupted in raucous street parties despite the precarious security situation. But athletes and sports officials have been frequent targets of violence.Three members of Iraq’s senior national soccer team refused to return home to Iraq after the Asian Cup victory. Team captain Younis Mahmoud, as well as players Nashat Akram and Hawar Mulla Mohammed, said they feared for their lives. The team practices and plays games outside Iraq.

3 Iraqi Soccer Players Seek Asylum

3 Iraqi Soccer Players Seek Asylum

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