NEWZ.mt editor, Michael Kaden, has been called in by police to explain a Facebook comment reported for ‘political hate speech’
NEWZ.mt editor interrogated for alleged ‘political hate speech’
The comment reported dates back to July 2023, when Kaden reacted to a satirical comment by Bis Serjetà owner Matt Bonanno under some Facebook posting by One.com.mt.
At that time, Bonanno had already been in the spotlight for being investigated for his clearly satirical suggestion that River of Love should be “relocated to Buġibba” and “carpetbombed” together with the whole locality.
“My comment”, Michael Kaden explained, “was in fact a reaction to Matt Bonanno’s comment in the context of the highly controversial charges against him. At no point did I refer to the Labour Party’s TV and radio station or to the content of the posting in question. I firmly reject the idea that this comment constitutes political hate speech as has been alleged”.
Kaden, who has not been charged yet, said he had emphasized this during his interrogation at the Police Headquarters in Floriana on Monday afternoon.
Last year, Home Affairs Minister Byron Camilleri called for an overhaul of the freedom of speech laws which “should not become a tool in the hands of extremists who want to stifle the arts and freedom of thought”.
In March 2024, police inspector Eman Hayman acknowledged before a Court the impossibility of carpet bombing Buġibba because Bonanno “did not have the power to order the US Air Force to carpet bomb an area”.
Michael Kaden told the police on Monday that he also had “no means of carpet bombing a political television and radio station”.
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