Sanctions against cricketers Asif, Butt expire on September 1

The International Cricket Council (ICC) on Wednesday confirmed that the sanctions against tainted Pakistani cricketers Mohammad Asif and Salman Butt will expire on September 1 and they will be eligible to return to competitive cricket the next day after fulfilling the specific conditions laid down by the independent Anti-Corruption Tribunal.

Further, Mohammad Amir will be eligible to return to cricket at international level at the same time, following permission being granted to him to return to play domestic cricket in Pakistan earlier this year.

The three were found guilty of various offences of corrupt behaviour relating to the Lord's Test between England and Pakistan in August 2010 by the independent Anti-Corruption Tribunal on February 5, 2011, with their sanctions back-dated to commence on September 2, 2010, (the date on which they were initially charged and provisionally suspended).

The tribunal, headed by Michael Beloff, following a six-day hearing in Qatar, had imposed a sanction of five years on Amir, seven years on Asif (of which the final two years were suspended on specified conditions) and 10 years on Butt (of which the final five years were suspended on specified conditions).

"As with all players and other participants in cricket, all three remain bound to comply with the ICC Anti-Corruption Code and the anti-corruption rules of all National Cricket Federations," said an ICC statement.

"Consequently, if they should commit any further act of corrupt conduct they are liable to (i) further separate disciplinary proceedings for breaches of the relevant code or rules and (ii) in the case of Asif and Butt and where such breach occurs during the suspended part of their original period of ineligibility, the activation of that suspended period of ineligibility."