The family members of tainted Salman Butt, who is facing a possible jail term after being convicted in the spot—fixing scandal, has jumped to his defence, and have accused the local media of being “unhelpful” to the former Pakistan captain.
Butt’s sister snubbed the waiting media outside their home here on Tuesday night after a London criminal court found him and Mohammad Asif guilty of conspiracy to cheat and conspiracy to accept corrupt payments for fixing part of a Test match at Lord’s last year.
“You should realise that you the media is not being helpful by conducting a media trial of Salman. We know our brother is innocent,” she said in a distraught voice.
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She insisted that the biased and imbalanced reporting from the Pakistani media since the spot—fixing scandal broke out last year did not help her brother’s case.
Butt’s mother told reporters that she had no grievances with the verdict of the jury, which found her son guilty of corruption charges.
“What I know is that God is the one who gives Izzat (respect) and Zillat (disgrace) to everyone. Only he knows the reasons for this. As far as I know my son, we have not brought him up in such a way that he should be corrupt. We believe he is innocent,” she said.
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She made it clear that the family would defend Butt till the end.
“Whatever happens now is God’s will and we are ready to accept anything. But our son is innocent.”
Butt and Asif face up to seven years in prison or a fine for their role in the scandal.
However, the third accused, 19—year—old pacer Mohammad Aamir, who was also involved in the conspiracy, did not face trial as he had pleaded guilty.