The Labour Party will force one of its prospective local council candidates to resign if she is found guilty of the Facebook harassment of an activist who’s involved in a pressure group demanding justice for Daphne Caruana Galizia.

“Even though our party officials do not report to the police each time that they are on the receiving end of online harassment or hate mail, Partit Laburista has a strong policy against the misuse of social media,” a PL spokesperson told Lovin Malta. “Therefore, if Angele Camilleri is found guilty of the charges against her she would have no option but to resign.”

Tina Urso, who helped found the pressure group Il-Kenniesa, found herself in hot water last year after she helped organise a protest in London against Prime Minister Joseph Muscat outside a conference organised by Henley & Partners.

Video: The Shift News

Angele Camilleri, a prospective Żabbar local council candidate, soon got wind of Urso’s identity and posted a link to her Facebook profile in a number of groups for PL supporters, which she helps administrate.

“Tina Urso was the mastermind behind the protest where insults were hurled at Prime Minister,” Camilleri said. “This is the link to her Facebook page.”

After her identity was revealed, Urso was met with a torrent of abuse on social media, with people flooding her Facebook page with derogatory comments and one using an anonymous profile to spread her parents’ address and her ID card.

This meme with a fake quote attributed to Urso went viral

A meme falsely quoting her as saying she hated Malta, Labour and the Prime Minister’s family went viral, prompting Valletta 2018’s former artistic director Mario Philip Azzopardi to call Urso a bitch and later apologise for having fallen victim to “fake news”.

After a year-long investigation, the police last week charged Camilleri with incitement and harassment. Urso testified about her experience last week and Camilleri set to take to the stand at the next sitting in May.

Cover photo: Left: Angele Camilleri, Right: Tina Urso

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Tim Diacono

Tim is interested in the rapid evolution of human society and is passionate about justice, human rights and cutting-edge political debates. You can follow him on Instagram or Twitter/X at @timdiacono or reach out to him at [email protected]