Seven years since the murder of Daphne Caruana Galizia and not only have the reforms for the protection of journalists that the public inquiry recommended not been implemented, but the Labour Party is threatening to turn back the clock to the persecution of criminal libel.
On the day that Daphne Caruana Galizia was killed she was defending herself from five prosecutions brought against her by the police.
For her they also said that she was part of a clique, that she was bad, that she used to destroy people. And this despite the fact that she was right and those who criticized her knew that she was right.
The criteria that the prime minister brought up yesterday in comments that he gave are terrible. Robert Abela is quoted as saying: “The reality is that there is a small clique of people who pretend to be journalists but are not journalists (…) they say they are looking for the truth but they have an evil agenda (…) the agenda of these individuals who use online platforms to destroy people of good will.”
But in a really worrying way Robert Abela refused to say who he was referring to. Instead, he wants the power wants to decide who is a journalist and who is not, who deserves the protection of the law and who does not, who is bad and who is not.
If the prime minister thinks that the laws we have are not enough to give a remedy to those who feel defamed, he must say to which circumstances he is referring: he must mention examples of statements or articles for which he would have sent the police to arrest their authors and take them to court.
If he doesn’t, the prime minister is increasing the intimidation on free speech and our democracy will continue to deteriorate.
Our appeal is that reforms are truly made that will strengthen, not destroy, freedom of speech. Journalists should be free to report what the people in power want to be kept secret, without fear of being persecuted.