ERIC PAULSEN THE HUMAN RIGHTS LAWYER Eric Paulsen is the executive director and co-founder of Lawyers for Liberty. As a leading human rights lawyer, Eric Paulsen campaigns actively for the abolition of the Sedition Act in the Abolish Sedition Act Movement (GHAH, Gerakan Hapus Akta Hasutan), and also provides legal representation for several individuals accused of sedition. On 5 February 2015, Eric Paulsen was charged with sedition for a tweet on 12 January criticizing the Malaysian Islamic Development Department (JAKIM), which is part of the Prime Minister’s Department, for “promoting extremism” via its official sermons. In response to Eric Paulsen’s tweet, he received death threats and accusations through his WhatsApp, Facebook and Twitter accounts and phone calls claiming that he had insulted Islam. However, he stressed that, "I have never referred to the religion of Islam in my tweet, I only criticised Jakim as an agency under the Prime Minister's Department." A month later on 22 March, Eric Paulsen was arrested again for sedition for tweets regarding the passage of an amendment in the Kelantan state legislature promoting the use of corporal and capital punishment under Sharia law. When interviewed by a news portal about Paulsen’s arrest, the Inspector-General of Police (IGP) reportedly cautioned Eric Paulsen to “watch his habit and mouth” when commenting on sensitive issues such as religion. In both cases the IGP took an active role in responding on Twitter and initiating investigation on Paulsen. Social media in Malaysia thus finds itself policed by the highest levels. Activists and other wellknown critical voices appear at particular risk of being targeted for police action. The impact on individuals is protracted as the full process of trial, appeal and counter-appeal can easily take up to five years to resolve. © Eric Paulsen “The Sedition Act creates an extremely harmful, chilling effect whereby opposition, dissidents and activists don’t know when and where they can be arrested and charged for sedition. There’s no limitation. They could pick you up. You could be prosecuted for something you said months or years ago. Even if the charges are baseless you still need to go through arrest, remand, charge, trial, appeal and eventually jail. The threshold for conviction is incredibly low. It’s an archaic law based on protection of Queen and country.” CHARGED WITH SEDITION FOR A TWEET CRITICIZING THE MALAYSIAN ISLAMIC DEVELOPMENT DEPARTMENT (JAKIM) FOR “PROMOTING EXTREMISM” CRITICAL CRACKDOWN: FREEDOM OF EXPRESSION UNDER ATTACK IN MALAYSIA 9