The fact that Malta’s police force is going through the trouble of taking a satirist to court is disconcerting on many counts.

Criminal charges have been filed against Matthew Bonanno, who runs the satirical site Bis-Serjetá, over a comment made about the notorious River of Love, run by Gordon Manche.

It started off when Bonanno said that River of Love “should be treated exactly like ISIS”. It then hosted a comment saying “I don’t think Malta can afford a sustained aerial bombing campaign on Żebbuġ” – where River of Love was previously located – to which he reacts by saying, “And Żebbuġ is pretty nice. Relocate River of Love to Buġibba, then carpet bomb. Two birds with one stone”.

What’s more worrying than a satirist saying that River of Love should be relocated to Buġibba before getting carpet bombed because Żebbug is too pretty?

Let us start with the almost inevitable: taxpayer money and precious court time is going to be wasted on a case against a satirist which the prosecution has almost no chance of winning. 

Even, if by any freak judgment, the case goes against Bonanno, it would end up being a costlier exercise as it will then head towards the European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg and Bonanno will get compensation.

The police did not charge Bonanno with violating any freedom of expression laws or libel. They have accused him of breaching Article 48(d) which “prohibits the use of electronic communication networks or apparatus for a purpose other than their intended use”. They even charge him with breaching Article 49, which states that “individuals who use the internet to threaten to commit a crime are liable to a fine of €25,000”. And this is where the prosecution becomes even more bizarre.

The satirical site has a way with words in destroying egos of people in the public eye but it certainly has no means to “carpet bomb” a town!

Criticism against the police for jumping into action at the whim of River of Love is more than justified. This is the same police force that delayed a woman’s cries for help before she was allegedly killed by her husband. It is the same police force that continues to ignore countless criminal complaints against corrupt politicians and people in power.

The double standards are far more shocking than Bonanno’s apparent offensive comment.

Freedom of speech is not absolute and there are understandable limitations to online harassment and hate speech. But freedom of expression is so sacred that these limits have major limits of their own.

It is not enough to disagree with what someone says. That is why the courts refused Manche’s attempts to stop satirical comedy programme Min Imissu for portraying him and his wife. Court time cannot be occupied by people who feel offended. If Manche felt hurt by a satirist, he could have used his own pulpit to make his point.

There must at least be some sort of filter by which basic case law is reviewed before someone like Bonanno is charged for an insignificant comment he made on Facebook. It becomes more worrying when satire is in the dock.

Former minister Evarist Bartolo was right when he argued it makes no sense to send someone to prison or fine them for using humour as a weapon when commenting about serious issues. “A democratic society is measured by the extent it tolerates criticism and prickly comments,” Bartolo said.

The police commissioner should do the right thing and withdraw this case before the force ends up with egg on its face and risks international derision.