Malta: Dehumanization of assassinated journalist Daphne Caruana Galizia is despicable

July 20, 2020, Valletta, Malta -- Following the brutal assassination of Maltese journalist Daphne Caruana Galizia, the hatred campaign continues. 

In February, Caroline Muscat, founder of The Shift stated that “Malta was one of the few countries where State-sponsored trolling was proven and continued unchecked through the Labour Party’s online hatred Facebook groups against murdered journalist Daphne Caruana Galizia”. 

Nearly three years after Daphne’s death the online hatred campaign continues with calling her  “saħħara” (witch), among worse dehumanizing labels. 

Dehumanization and demonization of the “other” are one of the oldest tools for far-right propaganda groups. Its purpose is to generate further hatred towards the other while emotionally and politically providing support for the perpetrators. 

In a 2019 article, The Shift delved deep into the dehumanization of Daphne along with other opposition. 

“Government and public officials, as well as Labour Party activists, are dehumanizing their perceived enemies more openly, and with impunity. Those in government fuel this behavior and defend it. In this context, a journalist’s assassination was predictable. And any complacency or acceptance of a continuation of the discourse that led to Caruana Galizia’s death is a guarantee of more violence.”

Article 10(2) of The European Convention On Human Rights which Malta is a signatory to states clearly that “freedom of expression” is subject to limitation when one’s reputation is damaged. Although ECtHR stated that the heir of a deceased person could not claim a violation of the Article 8’s rights (concerning the right to respect for private and family life) since they are non-transferable rights, such defamation campaigns pose a risk for all opponents in the country by way of using the deceased.

More concretely a better approach for dealing with the case is the protection of the living relatives’ rights. Their own right to reputation or right to be protected against distress or identity injury which falls under the scope of the right to private life should be protected.

The Coalition For Women In Journalism calls upon the Maltese government and judiciary to thoroughly investigate these “secret” online hate groups and act in a way to protect the reputation of a prominent journalist who was murdered brutally.