Do not reinstate criminal libel law, IGM tells government

The Institute of Maltese Journalists has called on government to “not do a U-turn” and reinstate the criminal libel law.

“IĠM was, is and will remain against the notion of criminal libel. It is regrettable that singular exponents of the Labour Party have resuscitated the idea of reintroducing criminal libel after it was the Labour government that removed it from the statute books in 2018,” the institute said.

Speaking during her final address as Labour Party president, Ramona Attard had stated that decriminalising criminal libel was a mistake.

“Criminal libel has a chilling effect on free speech and journalists because of the threat of imprisonment and has often been used in the past in a vexatious way by politicians and others to silence journalists. Malta should not return to such a state, and instead the country should be implementing reforms to offer journalists greater protection and to strengthen freedom of expression,” the IĠM said.

It said it expects an unequivocal declaration from the government that it does not intend to reintroduce criminal libel or increase penalties for civil libel.

“The clock should not be turned back,” the statement concluded.