The fate of nine Malians who have been detained for nearly three months remains unknown, as the government is failing to say how much longer it plans to keep them under lock and key.
The nine remain from a group of 33, and if they remain locked up, this Sunday will be their 90th day in detention.
When the men were arrested in November, the Home Affairs Ministry said that their detention – with the intention being deportation to Mali – formed part of an initiative from the EU.
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It was announced that the men would remain in detention until an African delegation visited Malta, identified them and decided on the next steps.
But the government cannot deport the men until documentation is forthcoming from the Malian authorities. The Maltese authorities are still waiting for these papers.
In the eventuality that the documents do not arrive or they take long,we will have to reconsider the situation at that point in time
In a comment to the Times of Malta in January, Minister Carmelo Abela expressed hope that the documentation would arrive as soon as possible.
“In the eventuality that the documents do not arrive or they take long, we will have to reconsider the situation at that point in time,” he noted.
This week, the Home Affairs Ministry was again asked whether it had an idea of when it would be receiving the documents and what the maximum period of time was that the government was considering keeping the nine Malians in detention.
Instead of answering these questions, a spokeswoman said that the ministry was still awaiting the documents from the Malian authorities.
The sudden arrest, which came a few weeks before the Christmas festivities, shocked the migrant community.
In December, Gianluca Cappitta – a lawyer at Mifsud and Mifsud Advocates – filed a constitutional case that challenged the validity of the deportation of these nine men, who have been resident in Malta between two and eight years.
Dr Cappitta told this newspaper that it was actually the men’s compliance with the law, which requires the renewal of their migrant document every three months, that had resulted in their turning up at the police station where they were arrested.
'Free the nine' campaign
In a statement, the Solidarity with Migrants group announced that it was launching a 'free the nine' campaign to coincide with the feast of St Paul.
The feast, the group said, commemorates Maltese hospitality and empathy with foreigners and those who were suffering.
The group said it was "ironic that the islands will be celebrating the recurrence, while the nine individuals are imprisoned for no valid reason."