Speaking exclusively to PakPassion.net, teenage pace sensation Mohammad Amir's lawyer Shahid Karim confirmed that he had submitted the reply on behalf of Amir to the ICC within the deadline.

 by Saj Sadiq

21 December 2010

With the cricket spot fixing tribunal hearing only a matter of weeks away, the trio of players Mohammad Asif, Salman Butt and Mohammad Amir together with their respective legal representatives are keenly looking at the opportunity to clear their names next month.

Speaking exclusively to PakPassion.net, teenage pace sensation Mohammad Amir's lawyer Shahid Karim confirmed that he had submitted the reply on behalf of Amir to the ICC within the deadline.

"We submitted the reply to the ICC on 14th December. There is possibly a reply due from the ICC by the 24th of December to the papers we have submitted, but as yet there has been no response to me from the ICC, but I do expect a response by the 24th (December)."

Karim who previously represented Mohammad Asif when the medium fast bowler tested positive for a banned substance during the Indian Premier League in 2008, added that an open brief had been served on the players by the ICC.

"The ICC have served an open brief on the players in which they have served their arguments, their witnesses that they want to produce against us and we were then required to submit a reply brief with our arguments and the witnesses we want to produce in our favour, which was to be done by 14th December, and the ICC would respond by 24th December to our reply brief, if they wanted to."

The hearing is due to commence next month in Doha, Qatar and Lahore based Karim feels that he can create enough doubts in the ICC case, on behalf of Amir.

"Rather than us producing witnesses as such, the ICC would have to prove their case beyond a reasonable doubt, so our aim will be to put a dent in their case and to create doubts in the ICC case."

The cricketing world has had mixed emotions surrounding the suspension on Mohammad Amir and whilst some former players have stated that the teenager should be dealt with harshly if found guilty, there are many former players and cricket pundits who feel that Amir should be treated leniently if found guilty, given his age and the fact that it is his first offence. 

"Amir has been hit hard emotionally and financially. So early in his career, he's been hit by this huge scandal. This is the type of scandal that is literally unprecedented in the cricketing world. Nothing of this proportion has ever happened before with so much hype surrounding it and with the kind of recordings that have been created against these players. Emotionally he is drained, he's been affected badly by it, but he's coping as best he can and above all he is very confident that he will come out of this clean. There are certain mitigating circumstances and factors in Amir's case that were spelt out in the initial hearing also. One of the mitigating factors is age and the other mitigating factor is Amir's previously unblemished record."

Karim stressed that the case was an odd one in that the judges are actually appointed by the ICC and it is in fact the ICC who is on the opposition benches at the hearing, which presents him and his client with an uncomfortable and rather strange scenario.

"Looking at the case from a legalistic point of view, from the point of view of the case being presented to an independent and unbiased tribunal, then I think he has a fair chance of coming out clean. However the situation is an odd one. Ideally we would have liked the tribunal to be completely independent of the ICC, but at this point in time I have to have full faith in the tribunal."

There have been calls from some quarters for the hearing in Qatar to be chaired by a different QC to the one that chaired the appeals by Amir and former Pakistan captain Salman Butt against their respective suspensions. Michael Beloff QC, the ICC code of conduct commissioner, chaired the appeal hearing and rejected the players' appeals, following which the PCB proceeded to revoke their central contracts. 

The hearing of the appeals was only meant to establish whether or not the ICC followed the correct procedures in provisionally suspending the players, and not their innocence or guilt. So in effect it was the ICC code of conduct commissioner deciding on whether the ICC had followed the correct procedures. A hearing therefore was only going to present one result given that it was chaired by the ICC on behalf of the ICC.

Karim confirmed to PakPassion.net that he had raised an objection to Michael Beloff QC chairing the hearing in Doha.

"We raised a slight objection to Michael Beloff QC chairing the hearing in Doha, as he had heard the case in the provisional hearing, but he chose not to remove himself. However as mentioned earlier, my training as a lawyer requires me to have full faith in the forthcoming tribunal and I should expect a fair hearing. 
Although the members of the three man tribunal are already part of the anti corruption commission which is a permanent body in the code of the ICC and are nominated by the ICC and the tribunal members have been picked out of those members, I still think that I have faith in their independence and impartiality."

If the outcome is not in favour of Amir, Karim stressed that he and his client would not give up the fight to clear Amir's name and would definitely appeal at the Court of Arbitration for Sport in Switzerland.

"If the hearing does not go our way we plan to take the matter further. The next stage of the process would be to go to the Court of Arbitration for Sport in Lausanne. The Court of Arbitration for Sport is an international arbitration body set up to settle disputes related to sport and would be completely independent and divorced of the ICC."

The hearing set by and overseen by the ICC will commence on 6th January and is expected to last four or five days.