Former Test captain Butt and pace bowlers Aamer and Mohammad
Asif were found guilty of corruption by the tribunal on Saturday in Doha.
Butt was banned for 10 years with five of them suspended if
the 26-year-old does not re-offend and takes part in a Pakistan Cricket Board
(PCB) anti-corruption campaign.
Asif, 28, was banned for seven years with two suspended
under the same terms as Butt, while 18-year-old Aamer was given a straight
five-year ban.
Only Aamer, whose lawyer said he would appeal, has a
realistic chance of playing international cricket again.
Five-year bans were the minimum an independent three-man
tribunal could impose under the ICC's anti-corruption code once it had
concluded that Butt, Asif and Aamer were guilty of spot fixing in the fourth
test against England last August.
Butt and Aamer encountered no hostile reception when they
exited the airport and both maintained their innocence.
"I am innocent of the charges made against me and I
stand by what I say. I will not rest until I get the ban overturned," Butt
told reporters at the airport.
"I don't think our arguments were heard properly and
the ban is unjustified." Aamer expressed similar concerns with the hearing.
"I am innocent and I was confident they would clear me.
The ban came as a total shock," he said.
"We are waiting for the ICC to release the detailed
judgment of the tribunal after which we will decide what to do but we have made
up our minds to appeal the ban in the first instance." Butt said he wanted
to see the detailed judgment to find out on what grounds the tribunal had
handed down such lengthy bans.
"We will appeal the ban once we get the judgment and
study it. But we definitely want to clear our names from this ban," he
added.
