The Home Affairs Ministry stood by Alex Dalli’s €100,000-a-year appointment as special envoy in Libya, despite a damning report revealing degrading treatment when he served as prisons director.
The country benefits from Dalli’s work in Libya especially when it comes to irregular migration, a spokesperson for Byron Camilleri told Times of Malta.
“Alex Dalli’s role in Libya, focused on security and migration, aligns with his previous experience in the AFM and Frontex missions,” the spokesperson said.
“The work carried out in recent years in collaboration with the Libyan authorities has yielded results for our country, especially in the field of irregular migration.”
The ministry did not answer a question on whether Camilleri has considered resigning as minister, as calls mounted yesterday for him to step down after the shocking report published on Friday.
Ombudsman and retired judge Joseph Zammit McKeon released the report detailing shocking testimonies from prison staff and inmates on the treatment of prisoners during Dalli’s tenure between 2018 and 2021.
He found that the Corradino Correctional Facility (CCF) was plagued by systemic maladministration, with one inmate even describing it as “a factory of evil”.
Intimidation was routinely used to maintain discipline and prevent contraband to the tune that “any means” were acceptable to achieve this, fostering a culture of abuse, the report found.
Inmates recalled being intimidated by officers wielding batons and Dalli himself carrying a gun, while others said they were left in solitary confinement for days.
Others testified seeing officers ridiculing a group of migrants with racist jokes, while a group was forced to kneel handcuffed and had a dog intimidate them before being hosed down with a water pipe.
The Ombudsman said if the press was allowed in prison to inspect it “many of the unpleasant situations could have been averted or at least attenuated”.
Moreover, 14 inmates died during the time Dalli served as prison director, many of them by suicide.
Journalists and activists have repeatedly cried foul over Dalli’s methods, especially journalist Peppi Azzopardi and academic Andrew Azzopardi, who published a documentary last December detailing many similar episodes to those revealed in the Ombudsman report.
Dalli removed, given new job
Dalli was removed from prison by Minister Byron Camilleri in 2021 but was immediately given another government appointment as special representative in Libya under the same ministry. Times of Malta reported the job came with a remuneration of at least €97,490.
The government said Dalli sits on the so-called Malta-Libya Coordination Centre, dealing with matters of national security including migration, though the details of his job remain under wraps.
Dalli holds the job to this day and even after this week’s Ombudsman report, the government seem to have no plans to act.
Times of Malta sent questions to the home affairs ministry yesterday, asking whether the government was reconsidering Dalli’s Libya position and whether the minister still trusted him, given the job is also a position of trust.
The ministry was also asked whether it felt retaining him would send the wrong message.
The reply only said the country benefits from Dalli’s work and it listed a series of improvements that the ministry has undertaken in prison since then, through Dalli’s successors.
One inmate described it as ‘a factory of evil’
An office for prisoner welfare was set up and every inmate now has a personalised care plan, the spokesperson said, and three halfway houses are being set up, including one for female inmates.
There are now 87 professional staff, including psychologists and psychiatrists, as well as four doctors and 11 nurses per shift. It also listed improvements to various units.
Officers are given mental first aid courses and inmates are given more employment opportunities and can now spend time with their children in a separate building outside prison.
Calls for Dalli’s resignation, arrest
NGO Repubblika called for Camilleri’s resignation on Saturdayu, while ADPD called for Dalli’s arrest.
The Green Party said it is disgusted by the facts confirmed by the Ombudsman regarding the operations, rampant racism, intimidation, and poor prison conditions under Dalli’s leadership.
ADPD chairperson Sandra Gauci urged the police commissioner to start making arrests, starting with Dalli, and launch an immediate investigation.
“Do we really need to tell him this? Does a magistrate have to spell it out for him?”
ADPD general secretary Ralph Cassar said it had to be the Ombudsman who confirmed the persistent media reports about brutal behaviour under Dalli’s leadership.
“These people have no place in any sector of public service, let alone in an institution that is supposed to be ‘corrective.’”
In separate statements, both political party Momentum and rule of law NGO Repubblika expressed horror at the abuse uncovered by the Ombudsman’s report.
Apart from allowing journalists into prison – something a court determined was justified in late 2023 – Momentum said MPs should be given the opportunity to make unannounced visits to Corradino.
Repubblika said the Ombudsman’s findings confirmed “what we’ve long known about Alexander Dalli’s administration”.
Both Camilleri and Dalli’s positions were no longer tenable. The minister must resign, and Dalli must be fired, it said.
The government now wanted to protect public officials – like Dalli – from being personally liable for crimes committed in the course of their work while also disqualifying media reports from being accepted as the basis for magisterial inquiries, Repubblika noted.
Under a reform presented by the government, only evidence admissible in court will be valid grounds for requesting a magisterial inquiry. Citizens requesting such an inquiry will also have to file a police report and then wait six months before turning to the courts.
“Not only did the police not investigate Dalli and other prison officials who imitated him… Minister Camilleri defended and promoted him,” Repubblika noted.
‘Ministry of Insecurity and Inhumane Treatment’ – PN
Meanwhile, the Nationalist Party accused Camilleri of turning the Ministry of National Security into a “Ministry of National Insecurity and Inhumane Treatment.”
Bernard Grech said Camilleri defended Dalli for many years, despite the many allegations of inhumane treatment. He said this was not an isolated incident, citing a series of scandals involving Camilleri in recent months.
“For the Maltese and Gozitan people to have peace of mind regarding their security, we need new leadership – one that certainly does not include Byron Camilleri,” Grech said.
The Labour Party shot down the call for Camilleri’s resignation from what it defined as the “extremist faction of the PN”.
The PL insisted the disciplined forces in our country were given the best conditions in history and the best resources.
“Our country is among the 10 safest in the world, our country addressed major challenges such as irregular immigration, initiated a great series of prison reforms, and much more,” it said.