Malta's MEPs have been asked to help remove censorship by raising the issue in the European Parliament, to ensure the islands enjoyed the most fundamental European freedoms.

The Front Against Censorship sent the MEPs a letter this week with its proposals for changes in the law. It said last year would be remembered for Malta's actions against freedom of speech through "draconian" actions such as the punishment of carnival revellers, the ban of a play and the persecution of a newspaper editor.

The Front was set up in reaction to these events and now has more than 3,800 members. It said censorship of the arts and entertainment went against the core European principles of liberty and freedom of expression.

"This, however, does not mean we believe in a lawless state. On the contrary, we wholeheartedly believe laws should be there to protect citizens but not to be used as a force that restricts criticism and/or punishes innovative artists."

"We are humbly urging you to present this state of affairs to the European Parliament to raise the alarm on a European level regarding Malta's repressive and outdated censorship laws."

The Front said it was not in favour of any form of discrimination, exploitation or hate speech as defined by law, and neither did it believe that the removal of censorship would allow such acts to increase unregulated.

It believed punishing artistes for being critical of the Catholic Church or banning plays for what moralists may perceive to be "bad taste" were totally unacceptable in a European country in 2010.

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