Six months have after academic scholar Kassim Ahmad's application for a judicial review of his Syariah High Court charge was dismissed by the civil High Court, the written judgment is still not ready.

 

This has caused problems for the frail 82-year-old Kassim who is appealing the civil High Court's decision at the Court of Appeal.

Lawyers representing Kassim had already filed the record of appeal and memorandum of appeal. But this was done without the grounds of judgment, which is hindering the process.

 

The law firm of Lee, Hishammuddin Allen and Gledhill which is representing Kassim, had written four times to the office of Justice Asmabi Mohamad for the written judgment but outrageously, there has been no response.

 

Lawyer Rosli Dahlan ( photo ) who is representing Kassim, confirmed that the grounds of judgment have not been received.

 

Asked if there’s a time limit for judgments to be written, Rosli confirmed that the Chief Judge of Malaya’s directive is that written judgments must be ready within eight weeks.

However in complex cases the court would allow up to three months .

Charged with deriding Islam

“The learned judge had read a very elaborate oral judgment, so I believe it should not be too difficult to reproduce it in writing.

 

“My predicament is that the Syariah prosecutor is not abiding by the stay order from the civil High Court. What do I have to do?

"Begin contempt proceedings against him like we had to do in the Borders case?

 

 “That’s not very nice especially that it’s now Ramadhan, the month of compassion,” the lawyer commented.

In the Borders case , the civil High Court had ruled that it had the jurisdiction to order the striking out of the Syariah charge of store manager Nik Raina Nik Abdul Aziz ( photo ), who was charged with selling the book Allah, Liberty and Love . The book was banned six days after its seizure from the store.

The Court of Appeal upheld the High Court decision on the constitutional matter and later Jawi decided to withdraw its prosecution against Nik Raina.

 

Kassim was charged at the Putrajaya Syariah High Court in March for deriding Islam and failing to abide by instructions from religious authorities.

The octogenarian was charged following a talk he gave on Feb 16 , last year titled 'Kassim Ahmad: An evaluation in the direction of the Malays and Malaysia within 30 years', at Yayasan Kepimpinan Perdana, in Putrajaya.

 

He faces a RM3,000 fine or maximum two years' jail term or both, for each charge.

 

Kassim had filed a judicial review to have a declaration that his arrest by the Federal Territory Islamic Department (Jawi) at his home in Kulim, Kedah,  was illegal and unconstitutional, as Jawi cannot act outside its jurisdiction.

 

Judge brushes off delay

However, Kuala Lumpur High Court judge Justice Asmabi Mohamad in her judgment on Jan 6 , dismissed Kassim's application.

She said he could seek remedy in the Syariah High Court and Syariah Court of Appeal.

Today, at the Court of Appeal, Muhamad Faizal Faiz Mohd Hasani, who is assisting Rosli, said that the deputy registrar contacted Justice Asmabi who said she was occupied with writing judgments for other cases of more immediate importance and public interest.

He said the deputy registrar told him that after those were done Justice Asmabi would focus on Kassim's case, adding the deputy registrar had set August 13 for further case management.