A new judge of the High Court in Kuala Lumpur will be presiding over lawyer Siti Zabedah Kasim’s wrongful arrest suit against the Islamic authorities linked to the 2016 raid on a private transgender event in Kuala Lumpur.

Civil court judge Ahmad Bache, who was initially set to hear the outspoken activist’s writ of summons, is slated to be transferred to the criminal bench of the High Court...