A number of activists on Wednesday criticized judicial organizations for "prolonging" the probe into the allegations of sexual and physical abuse against women members of Afghanistan Football Federation (AFF). 

The probe into the case was kicked off last year in December when a number of female footballers claimed that they were sexually “assaulted and abused” by former head of Afghanistan Football Federation Keramuddin Karim.

Following the claims, the Attorney General’s Office announced a list which included the AFF members who were suspended and banned from traveling.

The list included following individuals:

•    Keramuddin Karim, head of Afghanistan Football Federation

•    Nader Alemi, head of goalkeepers’ committee

•    Sayed Ali Reza Aqazada, secretary general of the federation

•    Abdul Saboor Walizada, head of provinces relations

•   Rustam, an employee of the federation

Subhan Mishab, member Afghanistan Lawyers Union, a civil society organization in Kabul, said that based on Article 149 of the Penal Code, the accused individuals should have been detained and the investigations should have been finished within 180 days.

According to them, the case has crossed its legal time limit.

“If such a crime was claimed against an ordinary person, he should have been detained. Banning from traveling outside is not enough. Apart from this, there is the issue of justice and equality in front of the law. Also, this crime is not that much complicated that it should not have been investigated in around six months,” said Subhan Misbah, member of Afghanistan’s Lawyers Union.  

A researcher from Integrity Watch Afghanistan, Nasir Timori, said the case has been affected by “double standards” from the judicial organizations.

At least 2,000 corruption cases have been sent to the Attorney General’s Office in recent years but “many” of them are pending.  

“Laws have been ‘violated’ by judicial organizations in many cases,” he said. “The cases which are questionable to us are the cases which involve ministers, deputy ministers and MPs.” 

Meanwhile, spokesman for Attorney General’s Office, Jamshid Rasuli, said a 30-member team has carried out investigation into the AFF case inside the country but according to him, the team should travel to some European countries for more investigations.  

“The probe team has received visa and they will travel to the countries in the near future. The team will make its (final) decision on the case if there was no need for more investigation in Afghanistan,” Rasuli added.