Pakistani cricketer's sentence for wife beating to be reviewed in UK

A Pakistani national beat his wife with a bat after he claimed he was offered a contract by a cricket club. The man was, however, able to escape jail time for the atrocities he committed. Nevertheless, a British judge ordered that the sentence offered to the Pakistani national be reviewed.

Mustafa Bashir, a professional cricketer, was able to avoid a jail term as his legal team claimed that prison time would set back his career as a cricketer. Judge Richard Mansell was hence obliged to make a suspended sentence at Manchester Crown Court last month.

Nevertheless, when the said club denied having ever contacted Bashir, the judge was forced to take up the matter once again. He has set a sentence review hearing on Friday.

“Further information relevant to the sentence has become available to the court,” the judge said.

The Manchester-based cricketer Bashir admitted two counts of assault occasioning bodily harm. He was reported as having beaten his wife Fakhara Karim with a cricket bat and also having forced bleach down her throat.

Judge Mansell had sentenced Bashir to 18 months’ prison and a suspension of two years.  Bashir was also ordered to attend a workshop entitled “building better relationships”. The 34-year old was then asked to cough up 1,000 pounds as costs and was banned from contacting Karim.

“Leicestershire CCC are appalled that Bashir could have invented a job offer from the club in order, it would seem, to evade a prison sentence,” Leicestershire County Cricket Club chief executive Wasim Khan said. Bashir had apparently used the club’s name in forging a story to try and evade jail time.

“The club are actively involved in the fight against domestic abuse and had already arranged a Bowling Out Domestic Violence cricket match in September in support of the White Ribbon Campaign, set up to tackle domestic violence,” Khan added.

“So Bashir’s claim was deeply disturbing for the club and we will continue to do what we can to support the authorities bring about justice,” he concluded.