Mohammad Amir against ICC sanctions



Mohammad Amir
Mohammad Amir will file an appeal with the Court of Arbitration in Sports (CAS) against the five-year ban imposed on him by an independent tribunal, his lawyer has said. Amir was handed the punishment under article 2.1.1 of the ICC's anti-corruption code after the tribunal found him guilty of bowling two deliberate no-balls in the Lord's Test against England last year.
The sanction was the minimum prescribed under the code and Amir's lawyer Shahid Karim said the tribunal, had its hands not been tied to the code, could have gone below five years. It's a point echoed by the lawyer of Salman Butt, Yasin Patel, and though no indication came from Patel whether there would be an appeal, the point could be a crucial one should any appeal be made.
Under the ICC code, the players have 21 days from Saturday to appeal to the CAS. "On behalf  


 of Amir I want to say that we will be disputing the judgment to say the least," Karim said soon after the verdict had been read out. Just before he spoke, amid extraordinary scenes outside the Qatar Financial Centre, where the hearings were held, Amir was mobbed by a group of Pakistani fans as he tried to leave, and was forced back inside.