Daphne Caruana Galizia, the Maltese lady journalist famous for exposing corruption in her country, has been assassinated in a car bomb. She was a 53 year old graduate of Archaeology to whom investigative journalism must be natural because of the similarity between the two. According to the BBC, her car exploded as she left her home Monday. All the reports so far on her death are mentioning how she had complained to the police of death threats in the last few weeks.
Galizia who equally ran a blog as well as a column in one of the country’s newspapers has been on the trail of Joseph Muscat, the Prime Minister of Malta, a tourist’s destination for alleged involvement in the Panama Papers. But the Prime Minister has denounced her assassination, promising that the killers would be traced and punished. The country is reported to have already asked for the assistance of especially the US Federal Bureau of Investigation, (FBI) in this respect.
That’s Malta in red ink in the world map
The BBC has reproduced a piece by a fellow Maltese which gives some insight into Galizia. It is reproduced below:
Her Scathing Pen Spared No Punches
By Herman Grech, Times of Malta online editor
Daphne Caruana Galizia was loved and resented in equal measure in politically divided Malta – but she will go down in the Mediterranean island’s history as one of the most influential writers.
Her uncompromising blog and scathing pen spared no punches, hitting out mainly at exponents of the ruling Labour Party and their supporters, but also sometimes criticising officials of the centre-right Nationalist Party, including its newly-elected leader.
Starting off as a columnist for The Sunday Times of Malta, her colourful reportage saw her embroiled in several legal battles along the years, including Malta’s prime minister.
But beyond all, even her fiercest critics acknowledge she was an impeccable writer and investigative journalist. Her digital cross-investigation into the Panama Papers, which saw the Maltese government’s top officials embroiled, effectively triggered off a premature general election last June.
