Daphne Caruana Galizia aged 53 years was killed in a car bomb on Monday soon after leaving her home in Mosta, on the north side of the island. The explosion occurred near the village of Bidnija, sending the car off the road and into a nearby field.
Her son, Matthew Caruana Galizia, said she was “assassinated because she stood between the rule of law and those who sought to violate it, like many strong journalists”. “But she was also targeted because she was the only person doing so,” he said. “This is what happens when the institutions of the state are incapacitated – the last person left standing is often a journalist. Which makes her the first person left dead.”
Mr Caruana Galizia, who was on the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists team that won the Pulitzer Prize for its work on the Panama Papers scandal, wrote a harrowing account of discovering his mother’s burning car and trying to help her.
“I am never going to forget, running around the inferno in the field, trying to figure out a way to open the door, the horn of the car still blaring, screaming at two policemen who turned up with a single, fire extinguisher to use it,” he wrote.
The police officers stared at him and said: “‘I’m sorry, there is nothing we can do’,” he wrote. “I looked down and there were my mother’s body parts all around me. I realised they were right, it was hopeless. ‘Who is in the car?’ they asked me. ‘My mother is in the car. She is dead. She is dead because of your incompetence’.”
The United States on Tuesday condemned the slaying of Maltese journalist Daphne Caruana Galizia and said the FBI had responded to Malta’s request for assistance in investigating the car bomb attack that killed her.
Prime Minister Joseph Muscat said in his public address 90 minutes after the car bomb exploded that he had asked the US for assistance in the investigation.
It is understood that the FBI will – in fact – be leading the investigation and Maltese forensic teams and experts have so far limited themselves to preserving the site of the crime, covering the remains of the car and the human body remains scattered around the site.
Dutch team reached Malta this morning, having been asked for assistance by the Maltese government.
Home Affairs Minister Michael Farrugia took to Twitter early this morning to announce the arrival of the team from the Netherlands.
State Department spokeswoman Heather Nauert said the United States condemned the “appalling violence that took place against her in the strongest terms,” calling it a “cowardly attack” against a reporter who was dedicated to fighting corruption.
“We responded quickly to the prime minister’s request for assistance. The government of Malta and Malta police force have been in contact with the FBI about the investigation and the FBI is providing specific assistance,” said Nauert, who called for a “thorough, transparent and independent” probe.
Media agencies
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