Pakistan duo guilty of spot-fixing

charge of “conspiracy to cheat” and both guilty by a 10-2 majority decision on the charge of “conspiracy to obtain and accept corrupt payments”.
Mohammad Amir had pleaded guilty to the same charges on September 16 but the news could not be reported till now because of court restrictions in place.

The convictions – reached by the jury of the Southwark Crown Court in London after 16 hours and 56 minutes of debate – carry jail terms. The sentences will be pronounced by the judge, Justice Cooke, today, tomorrow and on Friday.
Butt and Asif, along with teenage fast bowler Mohammad Amir, were exposed by the now defunct British tabloid the News of the World in an undercover sting operation.

Their former agent Mazher Majeed was recorded by a secret camera predicting when no-balls would be delivered by the bowlers.
Butt, wearing a velvet jacket and shirt without a tie, showed no emotion as the verdicts were read out. He just stared at the jury stony-faced.
Asif, wearing a grey winter coat in the dock, was equally unmoved as neither player said a word or made any obvious facial expression.

The jury were unable to reach a verdict on the “accepting corrupt payments” charge, in relation to Asif, and Justice Cooke immediately retired them to deliberate some more in case they could reach a verdict on that fourth charge.

Butt and Asif denied the charges.
The maximum prison sentence for the acceptance of corrupt payments is seven years in jail, while “conspiracy to cheat” carries a maximum two-year sentence.

In a bitter twist for Butt, his wife, Gul Hassan, was understood to have given birth to a second son by caesarean section on Tuesday morning, an hour before his verdict was delivered at 11.45am.
The players have already been punished by the ICC after a disciplinary hearing in Doha, Qatar, earlier this year.

Each was banned from the sport for at least five years.

Butt received a further suspended five-year ban and Asif was handed a further two-year suspended sanction.
All three players have filed appeals against their bans at the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) in Lausanne, Switzerland. – Cricinfo.com.