Former In-Niggieza editor awarded compensation for 1973 imprisonment

The First Hall of the Civil Court in its Constitutional jurisdiction has awarded €5,000 in compensation to a newspaper editor who had been jailed for criminal libel in the 1970's.

On September 20, 1973, criminal procedures were filed against Joseph Calleja, then editor of the newspaper ‘In-Niggieza’ over an article titled "Pudina mis-Sultana a' la' Cassar" which drew the ire of the Employment Minister at the time, Joseph Cassar.

The satirical newspaper had been set up in response to its Labour counterpart, ix-Xewka.

The article asserted as a fact that Cassar had impregnated an unmarried woman, but the allegations were later shown to be false.

The former minister had sued Calleja, as well as the paper's publisher for criminal libel.

Joseph Calleja, then 29, was jailed for two months and a half - the only such case since Independence

Calleja was found guilty after withdrawing the allegations in court and offering to allow the injured party to publish any statement by way of reply. He had apologised for the offence caused.

Calleja had been sentenced to three months imprisonment and fined LM50. He had left the journalistic profession after serving his sentence.

The former editor went on to file a Constitutional lawsuit, asking the court to declare that the criminal procedures and the jail term had breached his fundamental and constitutional rights, also requesting compensation.

Calleja explained that he had written the article based on information he received from several trusted sources.

The court, presided over by Madam Justice Lorraine Schembri Orland, said it recognised the press's watchdog role and agreed that journalists must be free to work without interference.

While the court was uncompromising in its criticism of the former editor's irresponsible and unethical story, saying that it was not acceptable to hide behind the freedom of the press to intentionally tarnish the reputations of others, the judge said that criminal proceedings should no longer be applicable in such cases.

The press must not abuse its freedom of expression in order to make gratuitous personal attacks, the court held.

Quoting the European Court of Human Rights' doctrine of the chilling effect of criminal sanctions on the exercise of journalistic enterprise, the Court said it felt that the penalty inflicted on the journalist was disproportionate and not reasonably justifiable in a democratic society.

The court said that the journalist could have been more rigorous in his investigation, however the court believes that this argument prevails in the civil court, where proportionate sanctions could be issued.

Lawyer John Bonello represented Calleja.