Daniel Holmes' father has written to the media raising a number of question as to why his son was being treated differently.

His letter comes two days before Daniel's appeal from a 10-year jail term after police found cannabis plants at his flat in Gozo is heard. The hearing is on Thursday.

Mr Holmes asked why was Daniel not acquitted on grounds that he was not assisted by a lawyer.

He pointed out that although an extension had been requested by the Attorney General in September 2006 as the time to file the indictment expired, such extension was never granted, but the case proceeded anyway.

Later Daniel was asked to sign a waiver without being told what it was, something he refused to do as his lawyer was not present.

“Why did the case proceed, when the AG had failed to respect Daniel's rights to a fair trial in a reasonable time-frame,” Mr Holmes asked.

He said that although in March 2008 the police were ordered by a magistrate to return some of Daniel’s property to him by May 20, this was never done. Why were the police not charged with contempt of court, Mr Holmes asked

Mr Holmes said that Daniel's request to make a fresh legal statement to demonstrate his reformed nature was never acceded to. He asked why was the UK coroner's office denied access to any information about Barry Lee’s death.

Mr Lee had committed suicide while in prison facing the same charges as Mr Holmes.