A parliamentary petitions committee has unanimously agreed to continue supporting a petition urging the government not to extradite Daniel Meli to the United States.
Meli is wanted in the US on charges related to the alleged sale of illegal malware on the dark web. His case has attracted widespread attention and public support, with over 4,000 people signing a petition opposing his extradition.
However, no final decision has yet been made on Meli’s fate.
During Monday’s committee meeting, MPs from both sides of the House agreed to invite Justice Minister Jonathan Attard to attend the next sitting. They also decided to pass on relevant documents from this week’s discussion to the minister.
On Monday afternoon, the committee heard from Meli’s mother, Lucienne Meli, and his lawyer, Arthur Azzopardi. Both argued that Maltese citizens should not be extradited if the alleged crime was committed from within Malta.
“Is our justice system less than any other?” Azzopardi asked the committee. “Are we saying that our country is lesser than the country asking to extradite him?”
Lucienne Meli previously told Times of Malta how she was given just 15 minutes to make a life-altering decision about her son's extradition to the US.
Daniel Meli had initially agreed to extradition, only to later retract his consent, with his mother filing a parliamentary petition calling for legal changes to ensure that crimes committed on Maltese soil are tried in Malta.
The petition is titled ‘Maltese citizen, who commits crime in Malta, even if country is outside of Malta, be tried in Malta’ and argues that any Maltese citizen who commits a crime locally, even if the effects are felt abroad, should be tried in Malta and not handed over to another jurisdiction.
They stressed that all necessary steps should be taken to ensure Maltese citizens are tried in their home country, especially in cases involving computer-related crimes where material evidence may not be found locally.
During Monday's sitting, opposition MP Charles Azzopardi noted that a Nigerian man allegedly involved in the same case had not been extradited, saying this set a precedent in support of Meli’s petition.
“There will be another injustice with a mother taken from her son and unable to see him,” Azzopardi said.
Arthur Azzopardi also argued that Meli is seriously unfit to travel to the US alone, let alone live in isolation from his support system in Malta. His mother echoed concerns about his wellbeing.
The next committee hearing is scheduled for next week.