Afghan women’s soccer team players have demanded the arrest of Karimuddin Karim, the former head of the Afghan Football Federation (AFF) after he was convicted in a sexual exploitation scandal. Last year, Karimuddin Karim was found guilty of sexually abusing several female footballers in the country, for which the sport’s governing body, FIFA, banned him for life and fined him 10 1 million.

The International Court of Arbitration for Sport upheld FIFA’s ruling two days ago, saying Karimuddin had violated fundamental human rights and damaged the mental and physical dignity of young female athletes. The International Court of Arbitration for Sport said in a statement that the action not only ruined the careers of the players but also severely damaged their lives.
Karimuddin had denied the allegations and called it a conspiracy, but has been on the run since FIFA President  issued a sentence and a warrant. KhaledaPopal, the former captain of the Afghan women’s team who campaigned against the president of the Afghan Football Federation, said the decision sent a clear message. No scope.
Popal, along with his former teammates, gathered other evidence against Karim, including sexual abuse, death threats, and rape. Another female footballer, speaking on condition of anonymity, said Karim should have been arrested a long time ago. But we are still glad that the world has not forgotten. He said the international community should put pressure on the Afghan government to arrest Karimuddin.
“We are getting back on our feet, it took us a while to recover, but we are happy that at least justice has been done,” said one female footballer, speaking on condition of anonymity. Karimuddin is looking for Karim but no one knows him yet.
“He is a fugitive. We have ordered the police to arrest him. Whenever he is arrested, the court will decide his fate,” said JamshedRasooli, a spokesman for the attorney general. It should be noted that after the scandal came to light in the British newspaper ‘Guardian’ in 2018, several more officials of the federation were sacked.