Asif To Appeal Against ICC Spot-Fixing Ban

Pakistan's Mohammad Asif is set to appeal against the seven-year ban handed down to him by the International Cricket Council (ICC) for his part in the spot-fixing case.

Asif was banned from all cricket activities along with his compatriots Salman Butt and Mohammad Amir after being found guilty of breaching the ICC's anti-corruption code and was later jailed for one year following a trial by jury in England.

His legal team have now confirmed that he will be appealing to the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) based on "multiple grounds that include the argument that the ICC disciplinary tribunal breached its own procedures, and in other ways infringed fundamental human rights to which Mohammad Asif is entitled.

"In such a situation, the ICC ban is not only flawed, it could also be unlawful," a statement from SJS Solicitors, read.

Two years of Asif's ban from the ICC are suspended while Butt was banned for ten years - five of which are suspended - and Amir five years.

Butt was subsequently jailed for 30 months while Amir was sentenced to six months in a young offenders institution after he pleaded guilty to charges of conspiracy to cheat and conspiracy to accept corrupt payments - the same charges that both Asif and Butt contested but were found guilty of at court.

The trio were standing trial after a plot to bowl no balls at pre-arranged moments of the fourth Test against England in August 2010 at Lord's was uncovered.

© Cricket World 2012