Prosecution of Kassim Ahmad illegal, court told

KUALA LUMPUR: The Federal Territory Islamic Religious Department's (Jawi) actions in prosecuting academician Kassim Ahmad (pic) for allegedly insulting Islam are illegal, a High Court heard Tuesday.

Kassim's lead counsel Rosli Dahlan argued that Jawi has no jurisdiction and power to conduct a cross-border action against Kassim, who is also a former political activist.

"Jawi officers had gone from Kuala Lumpur to Kedah and raided, searched, seized, arrested, detained and removed the applicant (Kassim) from the state of Kedah crossing into the states of Penang and Selangor in order to forcibly produce him before the Putrajaya Syariah Court," he submitted before judge Justice Asmabi Mohamad.

Rosli said that Jawi's jurisdiction is limited to the Federal Territory.

He said Kassim was wrongly charged before the Syariah subordinate court and that his charges were also illegal.

Among others, Rosli argued that the warrant of arrest issued by the Putrajaya Syariah subordinate court was in breach of the Federal Territory Syariah Criminal Procedure Code (FT Syariah CPC) and Kedah Syariah Enactments.

Besides that, Rosli argued that there was no first information report or complaint before the commencement of the investigation in the case.

"This is borne out by the refusal of Jawi or Syariah prosecution chief to provide the report or complaint.

"This failure to comply with Section 2 and Section 74 of the FT Syariah CPC renders the whole process of investigation and enforcement action to be invalid," he said.

He said the judicial review was undertaken to prevent further perverse prosecution against Kassim.

He argued that the entire conflict could have been avoided if a harmonious interpretation of the relevant state laws and the Federal Constitution had been adopted.

He argued that Jawi acted mala fide by depriving Kassim of his liberty without due care, caution and responsibility when it despite knowing that he is an 82-year-old and should not be subjected to detention for more than 27 hours.

Kassim is seeking to the High Court to assess compensation for the trauma, fear, losses, difficulty and damage to his reputation and good name due to the Jawi's alleged wrongful arrest and prosecution.

He had named Minister in the Prime Minister's department (Islamic affairs) Datuk Seri Jamil Khir Baharom, Ibrahim, Jawi and the Government as respondents.

Among others, Kassim is applying to the court to set aside the action of the Jawi's enforcement officers in raiding and seizing his publication materials as well as for arresting him in Kedah.