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.
They got what they deserved. I fully agree with the sentence and wish it could be 7 years for makers, 5 years for butt, 4 year for Asif, 2 years for Amir. They not only cheated their fellow teammates, opponent but the whole nation. They are traitors and should also be charged fir treason.
Syed Waseem
Malaysia
Thank you Judge Cook!, this sends a good message to young cricketers and no one is above the law.
Not satisfied at all……. a meager sentence for such a huge crime…. I just wonder this was a case specific to those 3 no-balls…. how many others such cases went unnoticed….. they should get life time prison atleast for the heinous crimes they committed… they played with the emotions of millions…..
Understand the sentiments behind your opinion but the court doesn’t give out sentences based on ‘speculations’ of a crime.
Don’t do the crime if you can’t do the time …
Thankyou late NEWS OF THE WORLD, i wish kamran, umer and wahab was in the same list, ban them for ever after 5 years thay gona do the same stuff
5 Years!!!! I think they are already doing it, and will continue to do it. They should be banned and an enquiry should take place where their assets should be audited. This way it will very clearly come forward how much money they have earned through betting.
Yup…true…agree with you 100%
Crime has been proven beyond doubt. The accused have been punished. Are people in PCB learning any thing; For Gods sake put some corrective measures in place before any body else becomes a victim.
By the way, the punishment is much less than what i had expected.
mansoor warraich
I agree, the punishments were nowhere in relation to their crimes, they should be put away for life.
Salman should be serving a lot longer sentence. He was the captain and it was under his authority and guidance that the other two players acted. He is getting away too lightly.
While the three are guilty of what they did, I think the sentencing was a bit harsh.
I wished they could have received life terms.
That’s all they deserve. They have gotten away very very lightly.
Anyone that dishonors the nation should be jailed for life.
not only dishonored the nation but the game of cricket .. for life time ..
These cricketers are part of a corrupt society and would still be our heroes had they done the same crime in Pakistan but their crime is to do this in UK and then get caught. Has it not brought shame on our judicial system by having a verdict in 22 days? Has it not ashamed our journalists who take manila folders blackmailing wrong doers rather than exposing them? Has it not ashamed our law enforcing agencies for correct procedural investigations rather than the protecting establishment from public? They did what is “normal” in Pakistan and if I am proud to be Pakistani than they still are my Heroes.
Feel sorry for their mothers, may Allah give them sabar. We are all human beings, Allah knows how we may have behaved under the same circumstances. May Allah forgive our sin’s and have mercy on us.
Sounds fair! definitely should be publicized more, and the media in Pakistan should highlight this shameful act so as to make a lesson for not only the younger cricketers but the general public because it is not only these cricketers to be blamed, the whole Pakistani society breeds cheating, short cuts, nepotism, higher authority references, and lawlessness. It is time that the bigger problem of the society breeding corruption is addressed via such a shameful, irresponsible, audacious act. People in Pakistan need to realize very soon that cutting short cuts, breaking queues, violating poors’ rights, and everyday lawlessness is the cause of every problem that we face.
I hope Qadri faces a very just sentence for his action too, and that be made a lesson to learn from as well.
I think this is not a new thing everybody knows that these things have been happening in cricket for a very long time and in every team. This is just another step to defame the Third World.
I completely agree with you… OK punish the people from Pakistan, but what about the players from England, Australia, South Africa who have accepted that they have cheated why were/are they not punished and not made scape goats???
By the way what about the bookies, umpires, and ICC officials, when they have scripted matches…This is all a scam, starting from the ICC, the boards all over the world should be cleansed…
I think it is the money involved, our money the cricket lovers, we should stop spending money on cricket matches until the whole system is not cleansed again I say starting from the ICC… Do you think that the judge is not influenced by the ICC???
Its an absolutely fair verdict. They brought disgrace to the beautiful game so much to an extent that every match will now be looked upon as suspicious. And the sentences are pretty fair in terms of the involvement of each player with Amir getting the benefit of his early acceptance and tender age. One must feel for Salman Butt after the birth of his child but he brought himself the humiliation and no other. The decision had to be made and inquiries should be made against all those whose names have been raised during the month long trial. This chapter has a tail attached to it and it should be chased and cut down before it eats up the essence of cricket.
This should be a lesson for all the players and an eye opener for the rest of the match fixers in Pakistani team. They have brought disgrace to the nation and to the game. Tough this is not new to the game, there are bigger match fixers still out there, and many of them are cricketing giants and heroes. I hope and pray that this brings an end to this filth in Pakistani cricket.
It is such a disgrace for the whole country, the sentence was well served, i think the punishment should have been more severe.
Oh please!!.. the disgrace for the country are our corrupt politicians… i’m glad Amir got a light sentence… give him a chance to start over. I don’t believe in throwing away a young life over this. He’ll do the time, but then he should be given another chance.
yes! the thing is will he come back or not?
TB why do you have sympathy for Amir? Behaving like a typical pakistani, i wonder how can anyone support Amir? As a proud pakistani you must wish for hell to Amir who cheats your pakistan. Is he not a traitor? But pakistan has forgiven many of its corrupt cricketers earlier, so i have no doubt that amir,salman and asif have support for them.
I think the decision is not fair. As they have wasted a lot of time of the courts they should have accepted guilty in the first place rather than wasting time of uk courts thinking that these are Pakistani courts that they can escape it.
Because of these sort of people we Pakistanis suffer
I think they should be given at least 7 years of prison
Shame just shame on them
Well said, Mr. Ahmed, I am with you, especially that these are UK Courts and not PAKISTANI Courts where one can get away with it. These sentences are still very lenient really for them, but more than that these guys will have to live with the shame & disgrace that they have brought to our country. Hope, it serves a lesson to others, just hope so.
This is great news. Its a shame for now but atleast it draws a line and future players would be afraid of UK/foreign law if not pakistani law so for me its a Great day for crickets future but Sad day for the present..
The court should have ordered more toouhg punishments to thses players. ICC needs to statrt a surgery for eradication of this cancerous spot/ match fixing!
Although it’s hard to face reality like this but then again lot of queries bubble up to surface – name any country Which has not been involved in match fixing ?? Then why we pakistanis are always scapegoat ? One error , you call it a mistake or blunder does not make one a criminal , or does it ? ICC should have the courage to interven in other countries as well who have been allegedly involved in spot fixing !one should not forget that it was a conspiracy to damage pakistan’s already defamed cricketing image isn’t it !
It would have been fair enough if someone else from an other country wouldn’t have done it !! Australians do it , Indians have the largest ever mafia active in their country , south Africans have been involved in match fixing and let’s not forget Sri lankans too !
They should be tried as well ! One sided policy of ICC always against Pakistan which is shameful !
Not sure why we are bringing other countries in to this. Match fixing is a crime with the jurisdiction of whichever country in which it occurred.
Let us look inwards rather than pointing fingers. We do not want to be branded as people who always complain.
Haroon, I can understand your frustration but as the individuals (Mazhar and Amir) have admitted to match fixing by pleading guilty, it is moot to propose any supposed conspiracy. Match or I should say spot fixing has been rife with many previous players deeply involved including Wasim Akram, Ejaz Ahmad and others all involved. Remember Rashid Latif blew the whistle and he got kicked out of the team.
Its good that the trial was in England and not Pakistan otherwise all would have been found innocent. I hope this serves as a lesson to other players and I pray that certain players like Akmal brothers who are also involved will be caught, humiliated and punished.
I really feel sorry for Amir, in this matter though. He got misled by Butt and Asif, as he was an impressionable youngster from a poor background. This matter also throws light on why Shoaib hit Asif with a bat in South Africa, a few years ago.
Cheating is no excuse. It is unfair to other individuals and the team and most of all to the fans. Now we know that there is no such thing as batting collapse.
Another Gem from Pakistani who is again in mode of denail… Grow up dude…
they got what they deserved…
When player themselves have pleaded guilty, still you feel it is ICC against Pakistan…. ?
Stop looking things as conspiracy theories and anything wrong done with Pakistani is a international mafia/media/politics against Pakistan
I feel the disgrace which these people bought not only to Pakistan but the Game of Cricket is so shameful that the punishment should have be severe than this.
Would you please get out of your shell of conspiracy….Why Pakistan is made scapegoat? because they were caught! What we should have done was to bring them back to PK immediately, banned them ourselves and conducted own inquiry though i doubt the criminal case would have been dropped but at least if they had pleaded guilty (which they no doubt were) they would have had much lighter sentences.
This is completely far decision and a decision well taken and we badly needed this to teach a lesson to the players.
I think lesson should be taught, but to everybody not only Pakistanis .. especially Aamir should have been given some more relief!
In view of the larger number of people involved in such stuff, an isolated punishment of this degree is saddening. ICC has clearly not advanced on the tips of the agent about other people involved in mischievous behavior all around the world, like Australians. And this is an unprecedented trial and sentence as every time, it is the national boards that handle the matters. To err is human, and so is a sportsman. So, the country and board kind of let these guys down, which is just killing me. Board could have intervened strongly and would have asked for a trial in Pakistan courts on any basis. This is humiliating as well as heart breaking as was the fraud itself. We let them down and I feel sorry for that.
Khalid what do you mean by board intervention? If it is to say that PCB should have investigated the matter and players were convicted in Pakistan, fine enough. However, if you mean that PCB should plead their case it would have been most absurdest thing.
You speak well.
ICC and their agents have been wanting to ‘punish’ Pakistani players for a while and this was a great opportunity. And yes where was the PCB?
Very true. Yes, they commited a crime and deserve a severe punishment. Shouldn’t have done it to begin with but our board and officials made it into a further mess by mishandling the situation from the start.
I don’t understand though, how the country let them down????
The actual problem is with our board and the officials, especially with the previous PCB chief Aijaz Butt. With he being the chief, this sort of things happening is a normal course. The things with spot fixing issues could have been handled in a better way if they could bring into notice before ICC came into it,
ArishaG just imagine if an Australian would have been caught in Pakistan, or for that matter, any English caught gambling in sri lanka, would they allow him to be trialed over there? never… infact, if you remember, south african cricketer hensie chronije, he admitted that he did such stuff in india, but his trial happened in hos country. players cheat, all over the world, but they are never subjected to such imprisonments abroad, they are brought home, banned, fined, and whatever. remember ajay jadeja and azharuddin? the later is member of the parliament now.. this is absolute hypocrisy that this trio was culprit and all others are saints. I think this matter should have been dealt at highest level before beginning of this trial. this is bullying by england and icc. this is humiliation, not justice, and this has been brought by our own corrupt board. those who call cricket a gentleman’s game are living in fool’s paradise. everyone does it, it should be stopped, anyone whop does should be punished, fined and banned, but this is absolutely no justice… no justice…
I agree.
Remember this is a criminal case too in as they have broken English laws. The ICC took care of the cricket part but the criminal issue has to be sorted out by the British courts.
The sentences are far too lenient as compared to the crime they have committed. They have brought immense shame to my country.