Hamane Niang, the leader of basketball’s global governing body known as FIBA, led Mali’s federation at a time of systemic exploitation of female players, activists say. FIBA announced an investigation.

After helping to build the West African nation of Mali into a women’s basketball power...Hamane Niang was elected in 2019 as the president of the sport’s global governing body...But, on Sunday, Niang stepped aside at least temporarily from his position as president of FIBA, basketball’s governing body, as The New York Times prepared to publish an investigation into allegations of systemic sexual harassment and abuse of dozens of female players in Mali, the majority of them teenagers, at least since the early 2000s. Niang, 69, has not been accused of committing sexual abuse. But his critics say he largely ignored the assault of women for a dozen years between 1999 and 2011, when he served first as the president of Mali’s basketball federation and then as the country’s sports minister...

And, those critics say, with further inaction as president of FIBA, Niang continues to leave female players vulnerable to exploitation in his home country, a predominantly Muslim former French colony where women experience extreme inequality in daily life.

Niang “strongly denies” the accusations, FIBA said in an email to The Times on Sunday night, but he will step down as head of the organization and will cooperate while it conducts its own investigation. Niang did not respond to a list of questions sent to him last week by The Times through FIBA, but said in an email on Sunday night, “I was never implicated and I never had knowledge in any way of the accusations described in your correspondence.”...

FIBA said it has “zero tolerance for all forms of harassment and abuse and extends its heartfelt compassion for victims of such conduct.” It said it was committed to making sure the allegations contained in The Times’s report are “taken seriously and properly investigated.”

In interviews with The Times over the past several months, female players from Mali described Niang as failing to take action and in some cases being present when misconduct was occurring...

Players and parents also told stories of mistreatment to Human Rights Watch and to activists for children’s rights and sports reform. Niang “knew or should have known” about the abuse in Mali, said Minky Worden, the director of global initiatives for Human Rights Watch...

“Harassment and abuse in sport is a very concerning topic, which has the full attention of the I.O.C.,” the International Olympic Committee said in a statement, urging mistreatment to be reported to a FIBA or I.O.C. hotline...