Ex-head of Afghan football in life ban for sexually assaulting female players including ‘threatening to cut one’s tongue off’
THE former head of Afghanistan football has been given a life ban by Fifa for sexually abusing women players.
Keramuudin Karim was one of five Afghan FA officials suspended in November after the allegations surfaced.
One player accused Karim, 57, a senior politician and former governor of Panjshir province, of putting a gun to her head and punching her in the face after a sexual assault in a hidden bedroom he was able to access from his office.
Another claimed he had threatened to cut off her tongue when she escaped him during an assault.
And a third alleged that after rebuffing his advances she had been dropped from the national squad and accused of being a lesbian.
The first victim said that when she woke after the vicious assault “there was blood everywhere” streaming from various parts of her body.
In total, five players made allegations of a similar nature and “repeated sexual abuse” covering a five-year period starting in 2013.
Fifa investigated and now the body’s ethics committee have found him guilty “of having abused his position and sexually abused various female players”.
The committee agreed Karim had “abused his function” as President of the Afghan federation.
In addition to the abuse of his position, he was also found guilty of failing to protect the physical and mental integrity of the players concerned.
The punishment was “a life ban from all football-related activities (administrative, sports or any other) at both national and international level” plus Fifa’s maximum fine of one million Swiss francs – around £795,000.
Karim’s sanction comes just days after Fifa President Gianni Infantino was criticised for a limp response to a question about dealing with issues of sexual abuse.
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The Swiss said: “Sexual harassment is terrible.
“But where there are human beings, particularly men, in dressing rooms, these things sadly happen.
“We have to take them seriously and must give protection. It goes beyond football. It is a big issue.”