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 28th, 2011.
COMMENTS (9)
Comments are moderated and generally will be posted if they are on-topic and not abusive.
For more information, please see our Comments FAQ
@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: 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......
@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.
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.
Hope they're both banned for life.
Aamir should be awarded life imprisonment.