The publishers of Realtà, the newspaper banned from the University because of an "offensive" short story, have come up with a number of proposals to end censorship.

They are inviting people to join their Front Against Censorship and start lobbying to remove "outdated laws" and bring about artistic freedom.

"This year is ironically the EU's Year of Creativity and Innovation but for Malta it is the year of censorship and suppression of the arts."

The group said it was not referring to censorship of hate speech, which discriminated against parts of society with the intent to cause harm.

"Instead, it wanted to end censorship that "defended nobody and nothing but the morals and the religion of the Roman Catholic Church".

"This is not a direct attack on the Church but simply a plight to protect the fundamental freedoms of Maltese citizens. The Church should have the liberty to express its views. But no bureaucrat or 'influential person' should have the power to... impose their morality on acts of expression, work of art, protests or the entertainment industry."

The group complained about various instances of censorship imposed by the courts, the Broadcasting Authority, the Board of Film and Stage Classification and the University.

It proposed a number of changes in the law, namely to disallow the banning of plays and films and to remove the concept of injuring public morals or decency through the use of "equivocal expressions". It also called for the law that disallowed the vilification of the Catholic religion to be removed.

The editor of the newspaper also sent a letter to the University Ombudsman asking him to condemn the ban on grounds that the University's actions breached the Student Charter.

Among other things, the charter says there should be "a formative milieu free of any discrimination against the fundamental rights and freedoms of individuals".

Timeline

January: The play Stitching is banned.

March: Police proceed against people who dressed as nuns or Jesus during carnival.

July: Satirical artwork Pornolitics is removed from an exhibition.

July: Police arraign owner of "porn" cinema City Lights.

October: Police question shop owner about naked mannequins.

October: Broadcasting Authority raps TV programme that showed photo shoot at the Addolorata Cemetery.

November: Student newspaper Realtà banned from the University.