Civil society activist and blogger Manuel Delia has made a legal bid to gain access to Corradino Correctional Facility and detention centres, after alleged human rights abuses. 

Mr Delia has filed a judicial protest, as the author of posts on Truth be Told, manueldelia.com, following repeated failed attempts to seek entry.

His request follows allegations about the “use of instruments of torture and intimidation” amounting to abusive behaviour that was illegal, criminal and in violation of the fundamental rights of inmates and detainees. 

Times of Malta reported last year that migrants were mistreated and subjected to degrading treatment whilst in detention, with some being ordered to strip off and hosed down “like animals.”

Requests to former Minister for Home Affairs Michael Farrugia as well as present Minister Byron Camilleri, had come up against a brick wall, with a reply by the relative Permanent Secretary on February 17, directing Mr Delia to forward his request directly to the Director of Prisons, the heads of the Detention Centres and the Principal Immigration Officer.

No reply was forthcoming from the Prisons Director, with the protesting party pointing out that the power to authorize the requested access lay within the hands of the Minister.

As for access to the detention centres, Mr Delia was told that such access was limited “to lawyers, NGOs and agencies.”

Faced with such a situation, Mr Delia sought recourse before the Courts, claiming that a fundamental principle of journalism was for journalists to report on first-hand research and denying this amounted to the journalist’s breach of right to freedom of expression. 

The judicial protest was filed before the First Hall, Civil Court and signed by lawyer Paul Borg Olivier.