A blogger has been cleared of defamation over her description of Labour deputy leader Toni Abela and other Labour party officials as “clowns, idiots and incompetents”.

Magistrate Francesco Depasquale ruled that Daphne Caruana Galizia’s comment was not libellous as it was not alluding to Dr Abela alone and fell within the limits of fair comment.

The article, titled ‘Ajma x’biza [My, how scary] an earthquake warning, hej’, was published on August 12, 2008. In its judgment, the court heavily criticised Dr Abela for procrastinating over the libel case, pointing out that he had stalled it for nearly four years.

“Unfortunately, the court cannot help but notice a concerted effort for such cases to be delayed,” the magistrate said.

Such manoeuvres brought into disrepute the entire court administration as well as the judiciary, who were not always to blame for such delays. “It is unacceptable that a libel case takes seven years to be concluded,” Magistrate Depasquale said.