MUMBAI
BIPIN DANI- Former Pakistani pace bowler M Asif's appeal against conviction will be heard in UK court today (Wednesday).
Speaking from London, Asif’s lawyer Ravi Sukul revealed this and said: "If Asif wins his appeal, he will have no criminal convictions and will be free to enter the UK as he did before. The ICC will have to seriously consider releasing him from the ban. If the ICC does not release him, I shall have to appeal again to the CAS.”
Asif is in Pakistan and unlikely to remain present at the hearing. "Asif is not required because the appeal hearing is for legal arguments for lawyers only. The ICC is also not required because this is an appeal against UK criminal convictions not the ICC ban,” he added.
The Pakistani pacer always maintained that he played no part in the spot-fixing incidents that occurred during the Pakistan Test series in England in 2010, and for which he was banned for seven years by the ICC and given two convictions by the UK Crown Court in November 2011. Since then his UK lawyers filed an appeal against those two convictions which will be heard by three judges in the Court of Appeal in London on Wednesday.
Asif's lawyer Ravi Sukul has advised that the appeal arguments shall be that both of Asif's convictions could be unlawful because the judge who conducted the trial may have made errors when he directed the jury. The appeal decision is expected after the hearing.