Kassim Ahmad case: Federal Court decides for another panel to hear application

PUTRAJAYA: A Federal Court panel today decided to have another panel hear an application by the government and three others to seek leave to appeal against a ruling over the arrest and prosecution of former social and political activist Dr Kassim Ahmad.
The three-man panel led by Federal Court judge Tan Sri Ahmad Maarop set March 7 for the hearing of the application by the other panel.
It arrived at the decision after Justice Tan Sri Ramly Ali, one of the judges on the panel, disclosed that Court of Appeal judge Datuk Zaleha Yusof, who had rejected Dr Kassim's application to obtain leave for judicial review in July 2014 when she was a High Court judge, is his wife. The other judge on the Federal Court panel today was Justice Datuk Aziah Ali.
Justice Ahmad said that after discussing the matter with Justice Ramly, the court decided to have the matter heard before another panel.
Dr Kassim, 84, in a wheelchair, was present in court.
The government is expected to raise two legal questions in its leave-to-appeal application.
One is on whether the court, in exercising its civil jurisdiction, can review and discontinue the prosecution of criminal cases in the Syariah Court especially when the offence is against the precepts of Islam.
The other is on whether in the circumstances when an investigation or arrest process of an offence was not carried out in compliance with the procedures laid down in the relevant statute, it would render the charge defective.
On Dec 21, 2015, a three-man bench of the appellate court held that Dr Kassim's arrest on March 26, 2014, at his house in Kulim, Kedah, for allegedly having insulted Islam and defying Muslim authorities, was illegal.
The Court of Appeal held that Dr Kassim, being a resident of Kedah, was not obligated to a Federal Territory 'fatwa' (Islamic ruling) as he was not arrested in a federal territory.
Dr Kassim had claimed trial at the Putrajaya Syariah High Court on March 27, 2014, to three charges of insulting Islam and defying Islamic authorities. The matter is set for mention on Aug 7. — Bernama