Doha: A make-or-break anti-corruption tribunal against Pakistan cricketers Salman Butt, Mohammad Asif and Mohammad Amir opened in Doha Thursday with the players facing lengthy bans if found guilty.
"It has just started. All three players are here," an International Cricket Council official told AFP from the closed door hearing at the Qatar Financial Centre.
It is scheduled to run until January 11, although lawyers have indicated a verdict may come earlier.
The three face charges of spot-fixing during Pakistan's tour of England last year in a scandal that rocked the sport. It is alleged that they conspired in the bowling of deliberate no-balls - claims they all deny.
Amir entered the building first, followed soon after by Asif. They came separately by car. Both wore dark suits, but no ties and did not speak with the media.
Butt arrived just before the hearing was due to start, also in a suit and open collar.
The three-man independent hearing is being led by code of conduct commissioner and leading lawyer Michael Beloff of England, aided by Justice Albie Sachs from South Africa and Kenyan Sharad Rao.
Rao told waiting journalists that he felt the future of cricket was bright.
"It is very important for cricket but I can't comment very much on it because we haven't even started," he said.
"The future of cricket is good because I think that's what this exercise is about. So it should be a very clean game and we can rely on the result of this."
