Sports

Spot-fixing jury retires to deliberate verdict

Salman, Asif’s fate in spot-fixing case to be decided soon.

Express October 27, 2011

LONDON: The jury in the alleged spot-fixing trial that involved banned Pakistan players Salman Butt and Mohammad Asif retired to deliberate the verdict after the judge summed up proceedings yesterday.

Justice Cooke completed his summation on the 17th day of the trial and offered some guidance to the jury, comprising 12 people, which will decide the fate of the duo.

Butt and Asif face charges of conspiracy to cheat, and conspiracy to obtain and accept corrupt payments, following the Lord’s Test in August last year when they allegedly conspired with agent Mazhar Majeed and teenage fast bowler Mohammad Amir and other people unknown to bowl pre-planned no-balls. Butt and Asif deny the charges.

“The only satisfactory verdict in a criminal trial is a unanimous verdict,” said the judge. “I do not want to hear anything about majority decisions at the moment.”

The judge may consider a majority verdict, though, should there not be a decision within several days. Meanwhile, the two Pakistan cricketers also require visa extensions in case the verdict is delayed beyond October 31, the day when their visa expires.

Published in The Express Tribune, October 28^th, 2011.

COMMENTS (9)

Prudent | 13 years ago | Reply

@You Said It:

definition of extradite is "Extradition is the official process whereby one nation or state surrenders a suspected or convicted criminal to another nation or state." I request that.....if you do not know legal terms, legal process, legal methods and laws then do not spread wrong notions unknowingly and ...NO ...I do not have experience of a criminal in my immediate family..but being a lawyer I know many cases who were wrongly implicated in foreign countries without any proof and even our embassy was slow to react in those cases....it was lawyers like me and NGOs who got some of those inoocent people safe.....and LASTLY IF YOU CAN NOT UNDERSTAND then what can I say...I never say they are innocent...but they are people who were forced to do a crime on cricket field by a bunch of journalists,betters ....so even if they deserve punishment , that should be done in perspective of circumstances ........ lastly when I said harping...it was said with sarcasm...if you know what sarcasm is..

You Said It | 13 years ago | Reply @Prudent You think asking for honesty and truth is harping - obviously we have nothing in common, fortunately. if your son or father is indicted in a crime in a foreign country then you will go to foreign office and ask them to help extradition to Pakistan Looks like you have experience relating to crime in your family and foreign countries, so I understand your "prudent" thesis on the subject. In any case, you should look up the meaning of the word "extradition" before using it - I think the concept has been lost on you. I don't subscribe to cockamamie theories so I'll leave the genuflection on "crime psychology" to conspiracy theorists like you. Enjoy the fantasy world you live in.

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Prudent | 13 years ago | Reply

@You Said It: Its people like you who harp on honesty and truth...but if your son or father is indicted in a crime in a foreign country then you will go to foreign office and ask them to help extradition to Pakistan so that any trial if required , can be done within Pakistan.... What I said was not read clearly by you...I quote "I am not saying that Amir or Asif were not at wrong…." and further I wrote ".I think Pakistan should have demanded their hand over and then should have gone ahead with trial…just like US said about Davis…".... so where do I say that they should not be punished...All I say is that we should own our citizens...If killer of two people can be owned by US then why can't we own our citizens who did not even commit crime in real world scenario...but were trapped into doing so.... Get a life....does it really require in case of Pakistanis...that they will feel the pain only if it affects them directly....and I repeat once again that you should all try to research "crime psychology" then you will understand sting operations and their flimsy base......do you know quite a few scandals brewed by newsoftheworld actually landed the same newspaper in hot waters and eventually got it banned......

hassan | 13 years ago | Reply I'd like to know some details about the members of the jury. For example: how many of them are Jews or women? the member of jury is a Jew, naturally he will be biased against Muslim ! We need to know the names of Jury members. It will help us to bash them in case they give verdicts against our innocent cricketers who walked into a trap laid out by BCCI and ECB.

You Said It | 13 years ago | Reply

@prudent the guilty must be punished. It doesn't matter that they are Pakistani or not. The evidence is clear and compelling. Butt and Asif said certain balls would be no-balls in advance and they were precisely that. If there was a conspiracy, clearly Butt and Asif were part of it - Butt had Asif bowling at that time, and Asif bowled the no-balls. No one forced them to do it.

By talking about these nonsensical conspiracy theories your delusions are harming clarity and honesty in Pakistan. Pakistan is bigger and stronger than Butt and Asif. Pakistan will only become stronger if the guilty are punished, even if they happen to be Pakistani. Be a man about it.

Billoo Bhaya | 13 years ago | Reply

Good thing that corruption is being tackled in a court in London. Ever hear anybody in Pakistan going to court and possibly jail?? Were that to be the case these cricketers would have been punished in Pakistan and not allowed to bring shame on the nation whose colours they wear on the field.

prudent | 13 years ago | Reply @Sohaib: @You Said It: I am not saying that Amir or Asif were not at wrong.... But your verdict shows typical Pakistani selfish mannersim.... Other nations try to save their nationals from being implicated outside their home countries even if they are criminals...take example of numerous indian spies and recent Raymond Davis case....I think Pakistan should have demanded their hand over and then should have gone ahead with trial...just like US said about Davis...similarly there is a thing called "Criminal Psychology"....If a crime is made very very easy by circumstances then even very simple people will commit it....in Asif Amir case though they did it but they were "trapped" into doing the crime by already closed/defunct "Newsof the world".. alas our nation only awakens when something happens to themselves or their kin....others even if they are fellow countrymen....are of no importance to our selfish nation.....try to be one nation...and try to understand that it was a trap...a conspiracy.....just tell me all that happened was it real....??? no a drama...a sting operation.....I am amazed the lawyers and PCB did not bring up point of "easiness of crime due to conspiracy".........!!!!

You Said It | 13 years ago | Reply

Hope they're both banned for life.

Sohaib | 13 years ago | Reply

Aamir should be awarded life imprisonment.

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