On 21 February 2025, student activist and Gempur Rasuah Sabah protest coordinator Fadhil Kasim was summoned at Kota Kinabalu District Police Headquarters. He was charged under Section 9(5) of the Peaceful Assembly Act for organising the protest without ‘complying with notification procedures’ and Section 509 of the Penal Code for his protest speech criticising the appointment of Sabah Governor Tun Musa Aman.
Court hearings were scheduled for 21 and 22 April 2025. The charge order had been issued earlier on 10 February 2025 and was based on police investigations into the Gempur Rasuah Sabah protest organised by students from Universiti Malaysia Sabah (UMS) on 31 December 2024. Although Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim announced an immediate moratorium on assembly investigations under Section 11 of the Peaceful Assembly Act (PAA) pending legislative amendments, the Attorney-General’s Chambers (AGC) instructed police on 17 February 2025 to proceed with the charges. This was despite the police having referred the matter back to the AGC following the moratorium announcement.
On 25 February 2025, however, the AGC issued a statement announcing that it had, ‘after detailed consideration’, decided to discontinue proceedings against individuals involved in the protest. No reasons were provided for this reversal. Notably, a similar anti-corruption protest held in Kuala Lumpur in January 2025, with Fadhil among its organisers, faced no such repercussions despite comparable circumstances.
Fadhil was one of at least three student organisers summoned for police investigations in early January 2025 following the protest that had already been subjected to police warnings and restrictions despite its peaceful nature.