Outgoing Prime Minister Joseph Muscat held a meeting with international lawyer Saad Djebbar at the Corinthia London hotel lobby yesterday, Lovin Malta is informed.

Djebbar has a desk at Carter Ruck, the London law firm hired to defend Muscat and other government figures when they were questioned by Maltese blogger Manuel Delia, British journalist John Sweeney and Italian journalist Carlo Bonini for their book Murder on the Malta Express.

Muscat, who is at the centre of a political crisis surrounding the assassination of Daphne Caruana Galizia, is currently on holiday in London with his family.

This is Muscat’s fourth trip abroad within a few weeks, having previously visited the Vatican City, Bethlehem and Dubai. All these trips took place after Muscat announced he would be stepping down later this month after the Labour Party elects a new leader.

Muscat did not respond to Lovin Malta’s questions about his meeting with Djebbar, so it remains unclear why the two met or what they spoke about.

Djebbar, who is well networked in the Arab world, is a regular fixture on Al Jazeera news where he comments on international politics. He is known to be close to the ruling family in Qatar and also did some work for Gaddafi’s regime in Libya several years ago. 

Djebbar was also a close friend of Jamal Khashoggi, the Saudi Arabian columnist who was allegedly executed in 2018.

Djebbar also represented the widow of former Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat, Suha Arafat, who was last known to be living in Malta.

Efforts to contact Djebbar for comment proved futile.