Libya Threatens Legal Action Over Tuna Related News ff
4 July 2007
Malta The Libyan government feels “insulted†by reportsand opinion columns carried in MaltaToday aboutthe way Tripoli has been handling the often fatalimmigrants’ exodus from its shores over the lastmonths, even threatening to “take the proper legalactions†against this newspaper.
Libyan Ambassador Saad El Shlmani wrote in aletter to the editor that the authorities of theGreat Socialist People's Libyan Arab Jamahiriyawould take action if MaltaToday carried “any moreattacks on Libya and its leadershipâ€.
Last May, MaltaToday broke the news that 27migrants were left clinging to a tuna pen inLibyan waters after the Libyan navy declined tosend search and rescue vessels to pick up thepeople in distress, and a tug boat owned byAzzopardi fisheries refused to take them on board.
The news made headlines across the world andgenerated harsh criticism of Libya for itsintransigence, and Europe for its inability tointervene.This is not the first time that Colonel MuammarGaddafi’s regime has complained about thisnewspaper’s reports.
The younger Gaddafi had in fact benefited directlyfrom the decision as a long-standing businesspartner of Spanish tuna fishing company Fuentes,involved in massive undeclared blue fin tunafishing in the claimed conservation zone. Back then, Libyan officials had pressed the Maltesegovernment in secret meetings to stop MaltaTodayfrom pursuing its investigations into Gaddafi’sbusiness venture, and had threatened that thereports could compromise any agreement between thetwo governments on the issue.
