The Courts, the Constitution and the Clown in the Castle

By Viva Malta

When I first heard the news of Norman Lowell’s guilty verdict, together with a prison term of two years, suspended for four years, I was shocked and totally speechless. How can this be? Malta has freedom of speech guaranteed by its constitution, the accusation is simply a scare tactic. We appear to be living in those times again. We seem to be reliving the 1960’s.

Norman Lowell was charged on several counts of ‘inciting racial hatred’, and also with a charge that wouldn’t be out of place in the Soviet Union, or any tin pot dictatorship for that matter, of ‘insulting the president’. Norman’s comment that President Fenech Adami was ‘a good gardener’ but a lousy president’ seems to have insulted a man who takes it upon himself to insult the people given the opportunity. This is an ‘honourable’ president who has pardoned drug traffickers whilst in office.

Now back to the more serious issue of freedom of expression. This should in all modern societies that don’t stone women to death for blasphemy be sacred. Indeed, Malta’s founding fathers placed a provision in our constitution that guarantees that we be allowed to express our opinions in a free manner. I quote the said article below:

English version: http://www.legal-malta.com/law/constitution-4.htm

41. (1) Except with his own consent or by way of parental discipline, no person shall be hindered in the enjoyment of his freedom of expression, including freedom to hold opinions without interference, freedom to receive ideas and information without interference, freedom to communicate ideas and information without interference (whether the communication be to the public generally or to any person or class of persons) and freedom from interference with his correspondence.

In view of the above, how on earth can Norman Lowell or anyone in Malta for that matter be censored? Sure, there are all those of the opinion that ‘inciting hatred is different’ but what about all those opinion writers in the newspapers? Doesn’t Daphne Caruana Galizia of Independent fame spew hatred in almost every article she writes? Doesn’t Andrew Borg Cardona of the Times do likewise? Do they have the right to express their thoughts as they please? If they say something libelous, then the offended person knows to pursue them through legal channels. What about our MLP and PN politicians? One of the MLP gang said PN voters had faulty DNA. Isn’t that hatred? A chap from the other camp said that Labourites are like animals - you cut off their tails and they remain the same. (more…)