Former Pakistan paceman Mohammad Asif will be released from a British prison early today after completing half of his one-year sentence for spot-fixing, his lawyer said.
The 29-year-old was jailed by a court in London in November last year after he was found guilty of conspiring to cheat and conspiring to accept corrupt payments over deliberate no-balls bowled during the Lord’s Test against England in August 2010.
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“Asif’s release is a matter of few hours and I look forward to meeting him and helping him in his legal fight to restore what was an otherwise brilliant reputation he once had,” the player’s lawyer Ravi Sukul told Pakistan’s Geo television in London.
Asif’s friend and coach Mohammad Haroon had previously said the fast bowler would be released on Saturday May 5.u00a0Sukul said Asif could stay in England while he explored the possibility of launching an appeal against his conviction.
“I have a strong belief that if certain procedures had been applied in Asif’s benefit at his trial, they could have persuaded the jury to come to a different conclusion,” said Sukul.u00a0