Pakistani cricketers, Salman Butt, Mohammad Asif and Mohammad Amir were handed down sentences at the Southwark Crown Court in London today.
Salman Butt is to get 30 months of prison time as the judge holds him responsible for ‘corrupting Amir’ while Mohammad Asif has been handed a one-year sentence and Amir will be detained for six months at the Young Offenders Institution.
In your opinion, is this a fair verdict?
More importantly, will this discourage players from indulging in corrupt practices in cricket?
Dawn.com invites its readers to give their views and suggestions.
ICC should seriously pursue corruption in cricket especially in india which is the biggest market of match fixing
I wept at these sentences, not for the 3 greedy cheats but for all those young poor kids in Pakistan with no future who looked to these imbeciles as hero’s and loyally defended them before all the facts were known. As for Aamir, young men of 18/19 die for their countries as opposed to cheating it and he has no excuse, if someone older tells you to do something that is horrible and wrong do you do it?, no of course not ,he was just greedy like the other 2
he was obeying his captain’s command, that’s it! he didnt take any money for delivering the no-balls!
Yes, he (Amir) was not a kid who doesn’t know what is right and what is wrong…
It is No verdict….. A new boy of 18 years of age has to obey the order of his captain… It is simple thought… ICC put a banned of 5 years and now this gora is sentence him for six months behind Bar …..is too much… I have simpathy for this child…. his being a witness of crown is not worked…..
Punishment should given to all big bosses.
A.Razzak chara
Indeed most will listen to the older and ‘the experiened’ as wrong a move as it is.
Amir was too naive in the world of the grown ups. Hopefully he now learns a lesson.
Who said they were heros. Thery were never heros. Calling them hero is actually dishonouring the heros like Imran Khan and others
As others have said before, “Don’t do the crime, if you cant do the time”.
Just because others have been caught cheating before ( Kronje etc) , does not not mean that these PK cricketers should not be tried and punished. All 3 had some of the best law firms in the country defending them and were found guilty by an independent jury and an independent judge ( who during his sentencing mentioned that there although there was other evidence of cheating, the PK cricketers had only been charged with specific cheating and he would therefor only sentence them on the specific charges). Amir infact pleaded guilty. He knew that he had done wrong.
Come on people, accept that these guys did wrong and they have to suffer the punishment. Of course their families are upset, of course they are upset; after all punishment is not supposed to be a fun time, but you dont want a situation similarly to the PK politician who said on national tv, “what is wrong with corruption, every one does it and it is our turn now”.
These player were involved, ther is no question about it period. However If these players were from australia or England, I can bet there would have not been ecven a trial let alone prison time
True, but the reason for that is the manner in which they would have been involved (they would not have done so repeatedly and blatantly) and the manner in which they conducted and handled themselves after that. Don’t you see the difference way Hansie Cronje handled himself and these three. In his case his own country conducted the transparent inquiry therefore preventing their man to go into foreign country’s hands. He himself was humble in his confessions was resigned from very beginning that his life in cricket was over.
The punishment given to them by ICC by banning them to play cricket was adequate. I think the judge should have considered that and could have given lighter sentences.Anyway, their careers were over by ICC ban. It is a sad day for cricket. I feel sorry for Amer. I wish ICC reduces the period of ban , now that he is serving 6 months in a corrective institution.
All of them should be banned forever from any type of cricket. They defamed our country and played with our sentiments.
Having siad that, I think now police has got enough evidence to crack down on the bookies wherever they are located.
Now since the music has started, pakistan should add desi tunes to the british rock and do an investigation on PCB and Ijaz butt. not only ijaz butt couldnt stop it , he also didnt know about it and mishandled the issue when it came up.
time is right, iron is hot, bring the hammer down pakistan.
Agreed.
I totally agree with you.
Pakistani’s are not used to justice. Hence the sentiments of some shocked people.
The trio of Salman, Asif and Amir got what they deserved. Maybe this will make others would be gamblers think twice before doing anything wrong.
Having said that I believe the main blame lies with PCB. The administration and the officials who went with the team. The manager and the security official bear full responsibility about what happened. If they had been half as vigilant as they should have been nothing would have happened.
Javed Qamer
Virginia
Javed Qamer,excellent analysis.What were the team management and the security officer doing.Why was Majeed allowed to stay with the players in the same hotel for at least 2 nights.Waqar Yunus says he was unaware of any such thing,what was he getting paid for.These guys were spending whole evenings and nights on phone call and texts while the security officer was doing what?
Although they got what they deserved,there are questions that demand answers. Who was behind the set-up or sting operation? Why weren’t Hanse Cronje or Azharuddin also tried in courts and jailed? Is it possible that only Pakistani cricketers are involved and not players from other teams. Cricket is big money in India and Australia and they are better teams than Pakistan. It’s entirely possible that ICC officials may also be involved at some level. Betting is a multi-billion dollar industry and fixing is an integral part of this business. That’s where the money is. It’s hard to believe that these three were the only black sheep. If ICC is serious it should conduct an enquiry accross the board of all teams. The target in my view was Pakistan cricket. A strong pak team is not good for big money.
A very good observation, I cannot believe that Indian cricketers are not involved in this scam.Pakistan Cricket was only the target here.
There is no point in making conspiracy theories. They got what they deserved.
Trio got jail because they broke British law of taking corrupt money.
About Why Cronje and Azhar not went to jail, if because they took money in India or in a country, where corrupt money law is not that Strict. I would favor if India also has that strict law and send Azhar to prison.
Very Good Sohail. you did find a point to convince us that there was a plot, a conspiracy as there is always one when anything goes wrong in Pakistan. Youn said it cleary that if they were sentenced to jail, why not others (who did nothing wrong) were not sent to jail. It is very clear, there must be some plot against Pakistan. How can a Pakistani be so bad!
Good sarcasm Agha, but do we really believe that the likes of Sohail will ever understand. Luckily the USA and Jews are not into cricket much, else this would be a Zionist/CIA/RAW conspiracy to hurt Pak security by crippling it’s cricket.
Anyway, given the history of our sub-continent, I really do not feel that the same western honesty standards should be applied to those players. It wasn’t as if they were hurting and swindling people willy nilly to the tune of lakhs of crores like Indian politicians and your armed leaders. So their ICC match bans and a cursory imprisonment of a token six months was deterrent enough. The Brits are acting all holy here – given their history of imperialism and stealing from whole nations.
Agha, have a look at the sentences given to match fixers in other games in Australia, they are not at all as harsh as the ones meted out to these Pakistani cricketers. Recently, i.e on 7/10, Ryan Tandy was just given a fine of $ 4000 for fixing an NRL match! compare that.
Simple answer, if others were doing match fixing, that does not allow Pakistanis to do same. What disturbs you more, Pakistanis doing the match fixing or everyone doing match fixing but only Pakistanis get caught.
They were young and wanted more money have deserved the ultimate punishment. If the PCB doesn’t look after the players and support them than defiantly they are bound to get into bad things.
Secondarily all this is also part of a bigger conspiracy to isolate Pakistan cricket where the main master minders were successful. When the names of players of other countries came up why the ICC hasn’t decided to investigate them? Why is it only Pakistan whose blamed every where and investigated ?
Dear Saad: In reference to your contention ..”When the names of players of other countries came up why the ICC hasn’t decided to investigate them? Why is it only Pakistan whose blamed every where and investigated?”….Please understand that it is NOT the ICC that initiated the probe, but the British police, who also took help of the Canadian police (to get the deleted parts of SMS-es om the mobile phones of the PaK cricketers to nail the trio). It’s all been done by the cops, and not ICC who are not sleuths but administrators. And plz for heaven’s sake, this is nothing to do with anti-Pakistan sentiments or anything, it’s plain and simple sleuthing.
Saad…the answer is simple! Pakistan officials don’t have what it takes to confront the others. You know who the others are….goras, indians, bcci, icc, etc.
Pakistan’s crime happens and plans were matrialized way back some 20 years ago, when they went on to defeat the masters of the game. (WC1992).
Look at the time lines…….
Wasim/Waqar: Ball Tampering
Saleem Malik: Match Fixing
Shoaib Akhter: Bends his arm
Afridi: Pitch tampering
Shabbir Ahmed: Bends his arm
Mohd Zahid: Bends his arm
SriLanka team attack: Yea, right sure it was done by locals. We all know who benefitted the most from this act and were able to stage the WC 2011 on its pretext.
I am sure I am missing a few other individuals and other instances where our players were defamed for things which was rampant in the world of cricket.
Australians, S Africans, Sri Lankan’s, English, W Indians, Indians are involved in this betting syndicate.
Cheers,
Omar
If you are being sarcastic then you have not made yourself clear. If you really mean what you wrote then it is absurd to say the least.
This is the old everyone-else-is-doing-it-so-why-cant-I argument. The fact is that these three are crooks and deserve to be punished severely for what they did.
They should not be allowed to play again for Pakistan. They defame Pakistan and the people of Pakistan abroad. They should be give more punishment in Pakistan as well. This is not the case of the individual, it is the case of the honour of the country. Living abroad, its very hard to face the people asking questions. Now a days anything coming from Pakistan showing treacherous, deceitfulness and duplicity.
I am aghast at some of the comments I read such as “These cricketers are part of a corrupt society and would still be our heroes had they done the same crime in Pakistan”. Are you serious? No wonder Pakistan is still one of the worse corrupt society because people like you don’t want to make it any better. I alos hear comment about “remember Manoj Prabhakar”. Clean your own house first, pal and then call the kettle black (if you know what I mean).
These 3 disgraced their families, friends, fans and the entire nation, ruined the cricket’s reputation, why would anyone be sorry or still call them their heros? That’s beyound me.
Yes they are guilty as proven but; alas, you have not read/heard about other cricketers in other countries?
I agree with DeSouza, we need to fix our problems first before we start pointing fingers at others. I am happy that these players are punished. Asif, Butt and Amir, while in jail please think about what you have done and how you have punished us.
Maybe we should now have an NRO and let Salman Butt come back as the head of the PCB!
Brilliant !
Salman Butt was just another politician in the making!
Absolutely right…
Hahahah…well said!
Very well said …. for tose shameless idiots pretending to be nobles ….
I think similar sting operations should be performed by Pakistani media as well to expose the wrong doers. Corruption is not only rampant in cricket but also in every sphere of life in Pakistan. It is the number one cause of all the ailments that afflict Pakistan. I hope Pakistani media would have the guts to take the initiative. This would of immense help for the people of this country, who continue to self-destruct through corruption.
Iam sad and embarrased at the sentence. What Pakistan gave to them and what they have given in return in these testing times. Shame on them.
Every body believes this to be true. And may be it is.
Given the facts, recent stories about conspiracies especially in Pakistan cricket, like the case of 1999 World cup loss against Bangladesh, Zulqarnain’s case etc. I am still doubting the correctness of the whole story. After all this is a BIG BAD WORLD.
In any case I hope to see some improvement in the way they “BOOK” these matches. Three no balls in a row is infantile !!!
I think they got away with lenient punishment considering the damage they have done to the game and the Country.
Thankfully justice has been done and in a timely manner.
This is too little to ever reflect the shame brought upon by these and others before them to our country. There is no sentence which can suffice for the crime committed. They should be trialed in our own country for committing high treason and executed in public. May be, just may be that will suffice.
i agree with the punishment given but I still feel for these guys just because of one reason only..and probably they did this because of this reason…which is…our poiliticians etc who have looted and plundered this country and every day a new corruption scandal emerges. billions are being taken away and yet these elite of our country get away. I hope one day one of our corrupt politician gets caught in the UK and then there is going to be no way out for them. coz there u cant bribe your way out by paying to the judjes or police
What has come to light through this trial and which completely astounded me was the fact that these and other guys from the team were doing it all the time.It was not a one off but systematic and even judge Cook said that it appeared as ‘NORM’in Pakistan cricket.These guys instead of training and getting adequate sleep or discussing the tactics were instead texting and phoning the bookies to negotiate the terms of cheating.This appears to be an every day occurance.What does the team management and the security do?And no body seems to have explained 4 houses of Butt and no doubt others.I am certain that people in PCB and the team management have always known about it.
Even I know this event was planned by foreign agencies (and internal traitors too) to defame Pakistan’s cricket and cautious their own players who were well involved in such things – I agree with the verdict – these guys should not be allowed to come back to cricket
dear salman, asif & amir: millions of people trusted you and cheated all – we don’t want you guys to come back in national cricket at all
Agree,there are some quarters who advocate Amirs return after his 5 year suspension but I am totally opposed to it.Pakistan has a conveyor belt of good player.Junaid khan will do for next 10 years.
Interestingly the guys were advised to deny the blame till last moment – this was also well planned activity to drag the case till the suspense reaches at climax.
The could have received much lesser punishment if they had admitted the truth in start and instead had put more of the blame on Mazhar Majeed.
But the agencies played well and got their objective.
Along with their other objectives like defaming Pakistani cricket, they have eliminated corruption in cricket to much extent at the cost of Pakistan’s cricket.
plus Aamir will have nothing after 5 years, he will be OVER!
I am disappointed that three of them did not get 7,5 and 3 years at least. There is no question about their greed and dishonesty. They have brought shame to my country.
Judge Jeremy Cooke for Chief Justice of Pakistan!! The current one has been utterly inept at stemming the corruption that permeates our entire society.
yea all he does is ‘sarzanish’. No one has ever been convicted from his court.
At last some people are hold accountable, good for Cricket. The sentences were according to the offense they had done in UK. These players are more liable for severe punishment in Pakistan, which unfortunately will not occur, because in Pakistan, ever things are buried under National interest.
I hope remaining Players like Akmal Brothers should be hold for their part in this Fixing scandal.
While we have the opportunity to clean out the trash from our country, lets send our politicians also to the same court. There needs to be Pakistan spring to get rid of corruption everywhere in Pakistan including the corrupt leaders and politicians.
Thank you Judge Cook. Though I think these punishments will only provide a pause before others go back to shady ways of making easy money.