Amir’s family says they’ve not yet received official date of release from UK prison

Karachi: Family members of spot-fixing convict Mohammad Amir have said they have not yet received an official confirmation of the date of his release from the Portland Prison in the United Kingdom.

"We have only heard speculation in the media of his release date and as yet we have not had anything official to say when he is coming home. As far as we know, it will be some time in February,” a Pakistani website quoted Amir’s brother Mohammad Salem, as saying. Amir, 19 is serving six month prison sentence handed to him by the Southwark Crown Court, after he admitted bowling deliberate no- bowls in exchange for payment in a 2010 Lord’s Test. He is slated to be released from a UK prison on February 3, after serving half his sentence. Saleem admitted his family is passing through a tough phase and added they are waiting for Amir’s return to Pakistan. "It’s been a very difficult time for all the family. To see Amir`s cricketing career cut short, his livelihood taken from him and then for him to imprisoned in a foreign country was hard to take for all of us. It has been a very emotional time for us, but we are a very close family and we have supported one another through this. Now we are just counting the days until he returns back home so that we can be with him once again,” Saleem said. Saleem gave a non- committal response on being asked whether Amir would appeal in the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) against ICC’s five year- ban over spot-fixing. "We will have to see what the legal experts say and what they advise. At this moment in time we just want him back home safely so that he can start to rebuild his life again, but five years away from cricket for him is very difficult,” he said. Saleem also described the five-year ban as harsh for his ‘naive’ and ‘innocent’ brother. ANI