The ICC on Wednesday confirmed that Pakistan cricketers Mohammad Asif and Salman Butt will be eligible to return to competitive cricket at both domestic and international levels after the sanctions against them expire at midnight on September 1. "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," an ICC release said. The ICC also made it clear that the players can return to competitive cricket after fulfilling the specific conditions laid down by the independent Anti-Corruption Tribunal. [related-post] The three players were found guilty of various offences of corrupt behavior relating to the Lords Test between England and Pakistan in August 2010 by the independent Anti-Corruption Tribunal on February 5, 2011, with their sanctions backdated to commence on September 2, 2010 (the date on which they were initially charged and provisionally suspended). The Tribunal, headed by Michael Beloff, QC, 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 players remain bound to comply with the ICC Anti-Corruption Code and the anti-corruption rules of all National Cricket Federations. 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.
