BBC: “The Maltese government did not answer my questions”

This BBC Assignment program by Lucy Proctor seems desperate to hear the other side of the story of the migrant boats ignored by the Maltese government in our area of responsibility over the Easter Weekend.

They want to put questions to the Maltese authorities. Why did you ignore boats in your area of responsibility for so long? Is it true you ordered a fishing trawler to conduct an illegal push back? Are you responsible for the deaths on board one of those boats?

Robert Abela has declared several times that unlike the allegations they face Malta strictly complied with the laws at all times. And that Malta’s harbours were closed because they were unsafe due to the coronavirus.

Why does the government not answer the questions of the international press and give them the government’s side of the story?

We’re back to Joseph Muscat’s policy of ignoring the international press. That’s because except to the adoring local crowds who will buy any crap the government gives them, the government has no plausible answers to give.

That does not mean that anyone can be optimistic the ongoing criminal inquiry will want to find anything to criticise in the government’s actions.

But the history of the terrible events of the Easter weekend in our waters will not be told by a magistrate or by a prime minister. There are closer witnesses: the surviving victims, the volunteers who saved them and the journalists who keep this story alive. The victims of the Easter weekend disaster deserve justice too. And for justice there must be truth.

Listen to the BBC’s Assignment podcast by following this link.