MUSLIM intellectual Kassim Ahmad is finally free today, after dealing with religious authorities and going in and out of the shariah courts for over three years.

Earlier today, shariah prosecutors dropped two charges against Kassim, who turns 84 next month, at the Putrajaya Shariah High Court.

He was previously charged in 2014, with two counts of insulting Islam and disobeying a Federal Territories Fatwa at a seminar in February that year, where he made some remarks about religious scholars.

“I am very much relieved. I am happy. All my friends will be very happy. My wife, especially, will be very happy. She had been worried about me and my case,” Kassim told The Malaysian Insight.

He said his wife did not know the news yet, as she was home in Kulim with their second daughter who just came home from France for a visit.

“They are all going to be very happy with the news… you know, all my life I have looked for the truth,” he said, and recited the words of English poet John Keats ‘beauty is truth, truth beauty – that is all ye know on earth, and all ye need to know’.

“In all my conscious life, I only want to find out the truth; and they accused me of dishonouring Islam. How could that be? Ridiculous,” he said.

Kassim’s son Ahmad Shauqi, who accompanied him today, said his father no longer had any more charges hanging over his head.

“I thank God it is over. I thank the lawyers for doing a great job. My father is relieved. The huge burden is now off his chest.

“He has fought for Islam all his life, calling on Muslims to follow the Quran. How could he be accused of going against the religion?”

In a letter last week, Kassim’s lawyers told the Federal Territories Islamic Religious Department (Jawi) director Paimuzi Yahya and its Federal Territories chief shariah prosecutor Mohammad Adib Husain to drop the charges against Kassim, or face legal proceedings for being in contempt of the Court of Appeal and Federal Court’s rulings in his favour.

Kassim’s lawyers demanded for the prosecution to be withdrawn and the scholar to be released along with his three bailors, who included prominent social activist Marina Mahathir. They also demanded for the RM6,000 bail money to be returned.

Marina, who attended today’s proceeding, tweeted: “Unbelievable! The prosecutors withdrew the case!! #KassimAhmad is finally free!! Syukur Alhamdulillah!

“This 84-year-old man was prosecuted for 3 years for simply expressing his views. He’s frail, he has to come from Kulim each time. Wife is ill,” she tweeted early this afternoon.

Kassim was arrested from his home in Kulim, Kedah in March 2014; taken to Kuala Lumpur and then charged with the two offences, which carried a maximum RM3,000 fine or maximum two-year jail, or both.

He filed a judicial review to strike out the shariah chief prosecutor’s decision to prosecute him.

In December 2015, the Court of Appeals unanimously found Jawi’s actions on Kassim, which included a cross-border arrest with a defective warrant, detention exceeding 24 hours without access to lawyers and his prosecution to be illegal, allowing him to challenge his prosecution by the religious authorities.

The Court of Appeals’ decision was challenged by the religious authorities, but the Federal Court in March this year dismissed the government and Jawi’s application for leave to appeal.

The court further ordered the applicants to pay costs of RM20,000 to Kassim. – August 7, 2017.