KUALA LUMPUR, Jan 28 — Ikatan Muslimin Malaysia (Isma) has threatened to sue civil liberties lawyer Eric Paulsen, unless he publicly apologises for a tweet labelling the Islamist group as “extremist”, alongside Malay rights movement Perkasa.

Paulsen has seven days to respond, after which Isma said it will initiate legal action.

On January 9, Paulsen tweeted “Yes, if Govt continues to support or close an eye to extremist groups like Isma & Perkasa” in reference to a news report on Defence Minister Datuk Seri Hishammuddin Hussein’s comments saying that Charlie Hebdo massacre in Paris could occur in Malaysia.

In a letter of demand dated January 22 sent through their lawyers, Isma said that Paulsen’s tweet gave the impression that the group is an extremist movement as the tweet was accompanied by the screenshot of the report quoting Hishammuddin published in Malaysiakini.

Isma’s lawyers also said that the remark on the microblogging platform indicated that members of the group have “the tendency to be extreme”, “drawn to militancy” and that they supported the attack on the satirical French weekly.

On January 7, three suspected terrorists descended on Charlie Hebdo’s office in Paris and gunned down 12 people including the magazine’s staff and police officers over its provocative depictions of Prophet Muhammad.

The group added that Paulsen’s tweet damaged Isma’s reputation as a non-governmental organisation committed towards to Islamic values and social service.

Paulsen, who is also the Lawyers of Liberty’s executive director, told Malay Mail Online he received the letter of demand yesterday.

Asked if he will defend the remark he had made over Twitter, Paulsen said “yes”.

However, he declined to comment further on the matter, apart from stating that he has instructed his legal team to respond to Isma accordingly.

Isma president Abdullah Zaik Abd Rahman could not be reached for comments.

In separate lawsuit filed at the High Court here today, Perkasa president Datuk Ibrahim Ali is also suing Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department Tan Sri Joseph Kurup for defamation over the latter’s statements accusing him of fanning interracial tensions.

In the suit filed at the Kuala Lumpur High Court registrar this morning, Ibrahim claimed his reputation has been tarnished by Kurup’s description of Perkasa as “bigots” and “extremists” in the latter’s statement last year.

Ibrahim’s blatant calls to burn Malay-language Bibles ostensibly for containing the word “Allah” in 2013 escaped prosecution after the Attorney-General’s Chambers decided the self-professed Malay rights proponent “had no intention to create religious disharmony”.