The Syariah High Court in Putrajaya has fixed July 17 to decide if the two amended charges and an additional charge against scholar Kassim Ahmad can be read out to him in order for his plea to be recorded.

This came after Kassim’s lawyer Rosli Dahlan informed the court that an application was filed in the High Court (Special Powers and Appeals Division) in Kuala Lumpur yesterday to challenge the validity and constitutionality of the charges.

In the application, Rosli argues that as Kassim lives in Kedah, the Federal Territory Islamic Department (Jawi) acted out of its jurisdiction when in arresting the aged scholar in the northern state.

Islamic laws come under the jurisdiction of the individual states.

One of the charges against Kassim concerns a fatwa made in Federal Territory of Kuala Lumpur, which may not be applicable to Kassim as he resides in Kedah.

Parties ordered to file written submissions

Rosli then sought a suspension of the Syariah High Court’s proceedings. However, judge Azzeman Omar said he would decide on the reading of the new charges regardless of the civil High Court proceedings.

Following this, Justice Azzeman ordered the parties to file written submissions on whether the amended and new charges could be read out in court. He will give his ruling on the matter on July 17.

Today’s hearing was also attended by former prime minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad and his daughter Marina Mahathir, who were spotted in the public gallery.

Kassim, 81, was on March 27 charged under Section 7(b) of the Federal Territory Syariah Offences Act 1997 for deriding Islam during a seminar in Putrajaya in February, at which he is accused of stating that people appear to idolise the Prophet Muhammad and that the aurat of a woman does not include her hair.

He was also charged under Section 9 of the same Act for violating the religious authorities' instructions in delivering those views and for citing two books he authored, which have been banned by the Islamic authorities.

When Kassim was first charged in March, he attended the proceedings without legal representation.

However, when the matter came up for hearing today, Kassim brought in Rosli and Zaidi Zainol as his counsel.

Jawi chief prosecuting officer Ibrahim Deris then informed the court that they have amended the two charges against Kassim and have included an additional new charge.

Initially, there were problems over Rosli representing Kassim, with Ibrahim questioning his qualification in handling syariah court matters. However, this objection was overruled by Justice Azzeman.

Both Rosli and Ibrahim have been at odds ever since the seizure of Irshad Manji's book, Allah, Liberty and Love , from the Borders bookstore.

In that matter, High Court in Kuala Lumpur on March 22 last year allowed Borders bookstore to challenge the Federal Territory Islamic Affairs Department’s (Jawi) prosecution of its store manager, Nik Raina Nik Aziz, after it ruled that Jawi acted out of its jurisdiction in seizing copies of the book before it was banned.