LONDON: Pakistan cricket team’s former captain Salman Butt will not be released from the prison but will be deported to Pakistan directly from his jail. The News has learnt from a reliable source that Salman Butt’s prison term ends on Thursday (21st of June) but he will remain in custody till he is put on a plane for Pakistan. A Prison Service spokesperson told The News that “under the Early Removal Scheme, foreign national prisoners may be removed up to nine months before their normal release date, providing they are being deported from the UK”. Whilst Butt is being released after spending 7 months and 17 days in the prison – 24 months and 13 days early - he will not walk free from Canterbury Prison unlike his former team mate and pace bowler Muhammad Asif whose lawyers SJS Solicitors secured his freedom in the UK after making representations to the Home Office. Salman Butt spent 6 hours a day in the prison gym as an assistant. He made around Rs1,800 a week from his job of helping other inmates train at the gym. He worked at the gym reception but trained himself for hours every day to keep in good shape. Butt and Asif lived in the same cell at the Canterbury prison. The duo were confined to their cells from 8pm-8am and during this time had access to a free view television set to watch the basic news and entertainment channels but couldn’t see Pakistani and other Asian channels available in the UK on Sky platform. British jails are not known for serving spicy food to inmates but the two players were allowed to keep hot Asian chilly and spicy sauces in their room, according to the source. The departure of Salman Butt to Pakistan closes a dark chapter on the history of Pakistani cricket.
