KUALA LUMPUR, March 23 — A magistrate granted police an order to remand Eric Paulsen until 6pm today for a sedition investigation over the human rights lawyer’s tweets on hudud. 

Paulsen’s lawyer, Melissa Sasidaran, said the police had asked the magistrate for a four-day remand after her client was detained yesterday under the Sedition Act 1948.

“Magistrate granted remand until 6 pm today; he has to be released then,” Melissa told Malay Mail Online.

She said Paulsen is being brought to the Putrajaya district police headquarters to have his photograph and thumbprints taken.

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News portal The Rakyat Post reported yesterday Inspector-General of Police Tan Sri Khalid Abu Bakar as telling Paulsen to “watch his habit and his mouth” after the lawyer tweeted his opinion about the Islamic penal code.

In his tweets that have since been deleted, Paulsen had reportedly urged Malaysians not to believe that hudud will run smoothly in Malaysia after Kelantan passed amendments to the Shariah Criminal Code Enactment II 1993 in a bid to enforce hudud law.

Khalid later warned on Twitter that those who are not experts on religion will be investigated for issuing public comments on religion.

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Paulsen was charged with sedition last month for accusing on Twitter Malaysia’s Islamic Development Department of promoting extremism.