‘PRIVATE HEARINGS WILL MAKE MY LIFE WORSE’
AZEEM RAFIQ (left) has said he fears being the central witness in a public racism hearing will make things “worse” for him and his family, even though he has called for the proceedings not to be held in private. The ex-Yorkshire spinner is planning to move overseas in the near future with his wife, children and parents to protect his family from further abuse.
Pakistan-born Rafiq, 31, first raised allegations of racism and bullying in September 2020, related to his two spells at Yorkshire. It eventually led
to a mass clear-out of senior boardroom figures and coaching staff.
The Cricket Disciplinary Commission (CDC) hearings are usually held behind closed doors because they are not courts of law or a parliamentary body where witnesses are protected by privilege that would prevent them from being sued.
Rafiq, however, has wanted the hearing to take place in public, ever since the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) charged a number of individuals over his allegations of racism, as well as Yorkshire over their handling of those claims, in June.
The hearing, due to start on November 28, could yet be held in private if any of the parties involved successfully appeal, although Rafiq has said he could withdraw if that happened.
“I’ve gone through all these processes and been vindicated, yet I and my family continue to be put through some very awful situations,” Rafiq told Britain’s PA news agency last Wednesday (9). “So I’ll go in another room and I will be vindicated again, I’ve got absolutely no doubt whatsoever. But will that change my life? I actually think it’ll make things worse.
“We need to have these conversations for transparency and for closure. Let the world see it, what’s there to hide? I’ve got nothing to hide,” he said. “Is it going to be easy for me? Of course it’s not. I’m going to be cross-examined by seven or eight different legal teams. But I just don’t see an end unless that happens.”
Rafiq said he was convinced there would have been even less progress in his case had he not given evidence to a committee of lawmakers in the House of Commons last year.
“If it wasn’t for the select committee, I’d still be fighting,” he added as he thanked the ECB for providing him with “24/7 security” following recent threats.
A book looking at Rafiq’s life titled It’s Not Banter, It’s Racism, written with English cricket journalist George Dobell, is set to be published on May 4 next year. It will examine the discrimination he has faced during his cricket career, as well as his own misconduct, including the anti-Semitic tweets he was sanctioned for by the CDC earlier this year.