{"id":5840,"date":"2016-02-22T15:26:33","date_gmt":"2016-02-22T15:26:33","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/unitederitreamedia.com\/blog12\/?p=5840"},"modified":"2016-02-22T15:30:00","modified_gmt":"2016-02-22T15:30:00","slug":"ten-players-from-eritrean-football-team-seek-asylum-after-world-cup-qualifier","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/unitederitreamedia.com\/blog12\/2016\/02\/22\/ten-players-from-eritrean-football-team-seek-asylum-after-world-cup-qualifier\/","title":{"rendered":"Ten players from Eritrean football team seek asylum after World Cup qualifier"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Players refuse to return home after playing match in Botswana<\/h1>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/header>\n
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The Eritrean national team was in Botswana to play a World Cup qualifying match but many players refused to board their plane home. Photograph: Image Source \/ Alamy\/Alamy<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
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Ten players from the Eritrean football team are seeking asylum in Botswana<\/a>, the latest in a series of defections by athletes from a country under investigation by the United Nations for human-rights violations.<\/p>\n

The Eritrean national team was in Botswana to play a World Cup qualifying match. The players refused to board their plane home on Wednesday and were detained by police, Dick Bayford, who has been hired by the Eritrean Movement for Democracy and Human Rights (EMDHR) to represent the players, told Reuters.<\/p>\n