Butt, Aamir to appear before court for appeal hearing today

  Pakistani cricketers Salman Butt and Mohammad Aamir will appear at the Court of Appeal on Wednesday to contest the sentences imposed on them after being found guilty of spot-fixing earlier this month.
According to reports in the media, "the Court of Appeal will hear their case on November 23 with the Lord Chief Justice presiding." The duo, along with pacer Mohammad Asif, was found guilty by Southwark Crown Court of fixing parts of a Test match against England at Lord's last year after taking money from a bookmaker Mazhar Majeed, who has been sentenced to 32 months in prison.
27-year-old Butt was handed a two-and-a-half year jail term after being found guilty of conspiracy to cheat and conspiracy to accept corrupt payments while Aamir, 19, is serving a six-month sentence at a young offenders' institute.
Majeed claimed to have paid Asif 65,000 pounds, Butt 10,000 pounds and Aamir 2,500 pounds. The convictions were the first criminal charges ever to have been brought to bear for match-fixing in cricket. In February, all three players were banned from playing for five years by the ICC. They are also appealing against the suspensions.