Former Labour Party official and broadcaster Joe Mifsud has been appointed a magistrate, as became apparent when the Cabinet last night unveiled four new appointments to the bench.

Dr Mifsud, 47, appointed a lawyer nine years ago, was appointed magistrate, along with Dr Monica Vella, a former Labour mayor.

Magistrates Giovanni Grixti and Myriam Hayman are to become judges.

Their nomination was announced in a statement in which the government noted that five of the 10 nominations to the judiciary in this legislature involved women. A well-known observer of the Middle East, Dr Mifsud has served as international secretary of the Labour Party.

He has served as a court expert since 2007 and in 2012 became a justice commissioner in a Local Tribunal.

In 2013, he became chairman of the appeals board on refugees and chairman of the Local Governance Board.

Dr Mifsud has published 10 books on politics, crime and terrorism.

Dr Vella, 41, has practised law for the past 18 years.

She served as the Labour mayor of Xewkija for 11 years and later was Commissioner for Justice in a Local Tribunal.

She was also president of the Fondazzjoni Ġwanni Pawlu II.

Sign up to our free newsletters

Get the best updates straight to your inbox:
Please select at least one mailing list.

You can unsubscribe at any time by clicking the link in the footer of our emails. We use Mailchimp as our marketing platform. By subscribing, you acknowledge that your information will be transferred to Mailchimp for processing.