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Afghan football chiefs suspended over sex abuse on women’s team
KABUL, Dec 9, 2018 (BSS/AFP) – Afghanistan has suspended five officials
including the president of the country’s football federation over allegations
of sexual and physical abuse against the national women’s team, officials
said Sunday.
The decision comes days after President Ashraf Ghani ordered the attorney
general to conduct a “thorough investigation” into what he called “shocking”
claims of abuse by male officials against members of the women’s team —
allegations that were first reported in Britain’s Guardian newspaper.
“The attorney general’s office has suspended… the president of the
football federation, his deputy, the federation’s secretary general, the head
of goalkeepers and the head of provincial coordinators,” Jamshid Rasuli,
spokesman for the attorney general, told AFP.
“To conduct the investigations thoroughly, collect evidence and to ensure
justice, the team of prosecutors decided to suspend these people,” he said,
adding that all the suspended officials were male.
The Guardian cited what it described as senior figures associated with the
women’s team who said the abuse had taken place in Afghanistan, including at
the Afghanistan Football Federation (AFF) headquarters, and at a training
camp in Jordan last February.
The story quoted former captain Khalida Popal — who fled the country after
receiving death threats and has spoken out previously about the
discrimination women face in Afghanistan — as saying male officials were
“coercing” female players.
Popal welcomed news of the suspensions, tweeting: “If we all stand together
and raise our voice and become the #Voice4voiceless no one would be dare to
hurt innocents. #Football is not abuse.”
Safi Sadab, an AFF spokesman, told AFP the federation was ready to
“cooperate with the investigation”.
Football’s world governing body FIFA has also said it was looking into the
claims, while the Danish sportswear company Hummel announced it had cancelled
a sponsorship deal with the team due to the allegations.
Afghanistan has made strides to promote female football — as well as the
national side, four years ago it launched its first all-women’s football
league that ran in parallel with the men’s.
In 2017 the female teams were sidelined by a lack of funding.
BSS/AFP/MRI/1647 hrs