The three satay baaz are appearing in court in UK today.
One of them, dont know which one, has applied for legal aid. I hope his application is turned down.
re: Salman, Asif and Aamir committed for trial on conspiracy charges
** Pakistan trio given court date for conspiracy trial **
Mohammad Amir (left), Salman Butt (right) and Mohammad Asif (behind) all deny the charges against them
**Former Pakistan cricketers Salman Butt, Mohammad Amir and Mohammad Asif have been committed for trial at Southwark Crown Court on conspiracy charges.**
The trio appeared at Westminster Magistrates Court on Thursday and were given unconditional bail ahead of the hearing on 20 May.
The players are accused of cheating and conspiracy to obtain and accept corrupt payments, charges they deny.
A fourth man, Mazhar Majeed, was bailed on condition he surrender his passport.
The charges relate to an alleged plot to deliberately bowl no balls in the fourth Test between England and Pakistan at Lord’s last August.
All three players have already been banned by the International Cricket Council over the affair - Butt for 10 years, with five of them suspended, Mohammad Asif for seven years, and Amir five years - suspensions which they are in the process of challenging at the Court of Arbitration for Sport.
As foreign nationals, the trio are entitled to apply for legal aid to pay for the costs of their defence, and BBC Sport understands one of them already has, with the other two considering following suit.
They were banned after the News of the World newspaper reported no balls were bowled at specific points in England’s innings after a payment was made to a businessman.
Information on when no balls would occur in an innings could be exploited by gamblers betting on specialist markets offered by some bookmakers.
Re: Salman, Asif and Aamir committed for trial on conspiracy charges
Its Salman Butt who asked for it (at least that's what I saw on the gaurdian yesterday)
Why deny Salman Butt Legal AID? They should give him legal AID to establish transparency. If they convict him, then the Aid only substantiates their claim to free and fare justice.