Pakistan's Mohammad Amir has been released after serving half of his six-month sentence. Photograph: Andrew Boyers/Action Images
The Pakistan cricketer Mohammad Amir has been released from a young offenders institution after serving half of a six-month sentence for his part in a fixing scam.
Amir, 19, who had been tipped to become a leading fast bowler, was freed from Portland Prison in Dorset on Wednesday morning, sources said.
He was one of three Pakistan cricketers who received custodial sentences of at London's Southwark crown court in November over a scandal that rocked world sport.
After his release, Amir released a statement that only referred to Pakistan's recent victories over England in their first Test matches since the fixing-tainted 2010 series. "I am delighted for the Pakistani cricket team. My thoughts are with them," Amir said in a statement by his solicitors. "I wish them every success. I will not be making any further comment."
Amir's mentor, Asif Bajwa, said: "Amir is in high spirits and he will meet with his lawyers to decide when to appeal in Court of Arbitration against ICC's five-year suspension. Now that he has served his punishment, I am very optimistic that ICC will also look into the long term suspension."
The former Test captain Salman Butt, 27, was jailed for two and a half years for his role as the "orchestrator" of a plot to bowl deliberate no-balls in the 2010 Lord's Test against England.
The former world No2 Test bowler Mohammad Asif, 29, received a 12-month prison term for delivering one of the fraudulent no-balls.
Mazhar Majeed, 36, the corrupt London-based sports agent at the heart of the fixing scandal, was jailed for two years and eight months.
All three players are also serving five-year bans from cricket imposed by the International Cricket Council (ICC).
The fixing scandal emerged after an undercover News of the World reporter approached Majeed in August 2010 pretending to be a wealthy Indian businessman seeking major international cricketers for a tournament.
The agent, from Croydon in south London, was secretly filmed accepting £150,000 in cash from the journalist as part of an arrangement to rig games.
Majeed promised the reporter that Asif and Amir would deliver three no-balls at specific points during the Test between Pakistan and England at Lord's from 26 to 29 August, 2010.
He claimed he had been carrying out fixing for two and a half years and had seven players from Pakistan's national side working for him.
The trial judge, Mr Justice Cooke, said Amir was "unsophisticated, uneducated and impressionable" and "readily leant on by others", but noted there was evidence that he also discussed rigging an earlier match with a betting contact in Pakistan.
He alluded to the young bowler's claim that he and his family had faced threats over his part in the fixing, and said this was supported by ICC evidence about the strength of the "underworld influences" who control illegal betting overseas.
Amir, who admitted bowling two intentional no-balls at Lord's, was named player of the series for his spells of wicket-taking against England in the summer of 2010.
He became the youngest cricketer ever to take 50 Test wickets and thrilled the crowds during the tour with his ability to rip through top-order batsmen.
Amir and Butt failed in an attempt to have their sentences reduced at the court of appeal in November.
Source--http://www.guardian.co.uk/
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