The Malaysian Insight

MUSLIM intellectual and author Kassim Ahmad has slipped into a coma, his son Ahmad Shauqi confirmed.

Shauqi said his father, 84, was admitted to Kulim General Hospital in September due to lung problems.

“He slipped into a coma early this morning at about 3am. I’m here with my father and the doctor said his chances don’t look good.

“This is very sudden and we are praying for him. I don’t know what happened because last night he was still okay when I was with him,” he told The Malaysian Insight.

The octogenarian from Kedah had had to deal with religious authorities over the last three years following charges of insulting Islam and disobeying a Federal Territories fatwa at a seminar in February in 2014.

In August, the Shariah High Court acquitted and discharged him on the charges.

Kassim was arrested at his home in Kulim, Kedah in March 2014; taken to Kuala Lumpur and then charged with the two offences, which carried a maximum fine of RM3,000 or 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 against 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 religious authorities, but the Federal Court dismissed the government and Jawi’s application for leave to appeal in March.

The court further ordered the applicants to pay costs of RM20,000 to Kassim. – October 9, 2017.