Thaindian News

London, Feb 2 (IANS) Pakistani cricketer Mohammad Aamer, convicted of spot-fixing, was released from a British jail after serving half of a six-month sentence for his part in the infamous spot-fixing scam.

The 19-year-old fast bowlers was freed Wednesday from Portland Prison in Dorset, south-west England. He was supposed to be released Friday but it was done two days earlier to avoid media glare.

Aamer was one of three Pakistani cricketers jailed by a judge in London in November last year over their roles in a plan to bowl deliberate no-balls during a Test against England at Lord’s in August 2010. Former Pakistan captain Salman Butt and fast bowler Mohammed Asif are the other two cricketers.

Aamer is free to stay in England until his visa expires - reportedly in March. In the next two weeks, he will discuss an appeal against a five-year ban from the sport imposed by the International Cricket Council (ICC) for his role in the scandal.

It is yet to be seen if Aamer can pursue his appeal against the ICC ban in the Switzerland-based Court of Arbitration for Sports (CAS) after pleading guilty during last year’s criminal case.

The 27-year-old Butt was sentenced to two-and-half years in prison for his role as the “orchestrator” of the scam while seamer Asif, 28, received a 12-month term for bowling a fraudulent no-ball. Butt and Asif have also been banned by the ICC.

London-based sports agent Mazhar Majeed, 36, who organised the scam, has been jailed for two years and eight months.

Butt and Aamer’s appeals against their sentences were also rejected in November after England’s top judge ruled that they have “betrayed” their country.

Lord Chief Justice Igor Judge, however, was compassionate towards Aamer and said he was a “prodigious young talent with huge potential” that might be “irreparably damaged” by his time out of the game. “This is, of course, his own loss and cricket will also be the poorer for the loss,” Judge said.

However, “a short, immediate prison sentence was necessary and appropriate”.

Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) chairman Zaka Ashraf had also indicated that Aamer could return to international cricket once his jail term and ICC ban had been completed.

The three cricketers, including Majeed, were jailed in November for a plot to bowl deliberate no balls in a Test match against England in 2010.

The fixing scandal was exposed by now defunct News of the World tabloid, whose reporter approached Majeed pretending to be a wealthy Indian businessman seeking players for a tournament.

Majeed promised the tabloid’s undercover reporter that Asif and Amir would deliver three no-balls during the Lord’s Test between Pakistan and England August 26-29.