Scholar Kassim Ahmad denied justice in delayed judgment, says lawyer

Six months have passed since the High Court dismissed Muslim scholar Kassim Ahmad's judicial review application over his unlawful arrest and prosecution by the Federal Territory Islamic Religious Department (Jawi) for insulting Islam but the written judgment is still pending. And this has created problems for Kassim who wants to appeal the decision at the Court of Appeal. Kassim's lawyers had written to the High Court judge, Datuk Asmabi Mohamad, four times since January to provide the grounds of judgment as an appeal had been filed to the Court of Appeal but there was no response. Yesterday, during a case a management before Court of Appeal deputy registrar Nor Azizah Aling, it was revealed to lawyer Muhammad Faizal Faiz Mohd Hasani that the judge was at the moment giving priority to prepare other judgments. "I was informed that the judge is occupied with writing judgments for other pressing cases that are more to public interest,” the lawyer who represented Kassim in the case management told The Malaysian Insider. Faizal said he was also told that the judge would focus on Kassim's judgment only after the other priority cases were dealt with. Nor Azizah has now fixed the next case management on August 13. It is understood the chief justice had directed that grounds of judgment must be supplied within eight weeks of a decision. "We wrote to the court four times in January, March and last month. But until now, we have not gotten the grounds of judgment," Faizal said, adding that they had to file the record and memorandum of appeal without benefit of the grounds of judgment. Asmabi dismissed the 83-year-old Kassim's application on January 6 and Kassim's lawyers filed the notice of appeal two days later. Yesterday was the third case management being held to give Asmabi more time to supply the written judgment. The lawyer said the delay in the proceedings had also taken its toll on Kassim although the legal service was pro bono. But Kassim's disbursements came close to RM30,000. "Every time I come to Kuala Lumpur from Kulim, Kedah, I have to take a bus if my son cannot send me," Kassim said. Asmabi in her oral ruling said that the civil court could not entertain Kassim's judicial review as the subject matter fell within the religious court. "The applicant (Kassim) was challenging his detention and prosecution of enforcement authorities,” Asmabi said when delivering the verdict. She said Kassim should have submitted to the shariah court and appealed to the superior religious courts if he was unhappy with the outcome. Kassim was first charged at the Shariah High Court in Putrajaya in March last year. On March 26, Jawi enforcement officers searched and arrested Kassim at his home in Kulim for allegedly insulting Islam and defying religious authorities. On June 26, Kassim filed a leave application for judicial review and named as respondents Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department Datuk Seri Jamil Khir Baharom, the chief shariah prosecutor, Jawi and the government. He was seeking, among others, an order to strike out the chief prosecutor's decision on March 27 to prosecute him for allegedly insulting Islam and defying the religious authorities. He wanted his case in the shariah court to be suspended, pending the decision of the judicial review. Kassim was charged in the shariah lower court in Putrajaya with insulting Islam and defying religious authorities at a seminar in February that was opened by former prime minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad. But the prosecution later produced him in the shariah high court. Kassim pleaded not guilty to both charges. It was previously reported that Kassim was being investigated for remarks he made at the seminar entitled "The thoughts of Kassim Ahmad: a review", which was organised by the Perdana Leadership Foundation, of which Dr Mahathir is the patron. Kassim had apparently accused some ulama (religious scholars) in Malaysia of imitating the "priesthood caste" system. He riled up Muslims on both sides of the divide when he questioned the use of hadith to interpret the Quran, and described the Prophet as "just a messenger of Allah". In his lecture titled "The nation's direction in the next 30 years", Kassim also questioned the hijab (Islamic headscarf) worn by Muslim women, saying that "the hair is not part of the aurat" (parts of the body which need to be covered according to Islamic teachings). – July 2, 2015.