Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/1283588
maltatoday | SUNDAY • 30 AUGUST 2020 NEWS Delivery fee of just €1 per day for orders up to 5 newspapers per address To subscribe 1. Email us your choice of newspapers, recipient's name, address, contact number to production@ millermalta.com 2. Forward cheques payabale to Miller Dis- tributors Ltd to address: Miller House, Airport Way, Tarxien Road, Luqa LQA1814 Queries on other news- papers and magazines, contact production@millermal- ta.com maltatoday Same-day delivery of your favourite Sunday newspaper Monday-Friday MaltaToday Midweek • €1 BusinessToday • €1.50 Sunday MaltaToday • €1.95 ILLUM • €1.25 Support your favourite newspaper with a subscription https://bit.ly/2X9csmr MATTHEW AGIUS NEVILLE Gafà, the man once tasked by the Muscat adminis- tration with stemming the flow of migrants and refugees com- ing to Malta through Libya, will be charged in court with threatening an Italian journal- ist. Gafà had been questioned by police over a tweet aimed at intimidating Italian journalist Nello Scavo, of the Catholic newspaper L'Avvenire. "Stop your dirty business. If not we will be stopping you," Gafà had tweeted on 27 June. On his Facebook page earlier this week, Gafà, a former per- son of trust in OPM, and who served as an unofficial envoy to Libya on matters of migration, claimed to have been informed of his pending arraignment on charges of threatening the Ital- ian journalist. Gafà protested his innocence in the post, saying that he had no intention of threatening Scavo, "more so publicly on so- cial media". He claimed that in the past few weeks, "great pressure was brought to bear on the Maltese authorities" to issue proceed- ings against him – singling out the entire international bodies of journalism, as well as the Italian embassy in Malta. The organisations singled in- clude ARTICLE 19, European Centre for Press and Media Freedom (ECPMF), Europe- an Federation of Journalists (EFJ), Free Press Unlimited, IFEX, International Press In- stitute (IPI), Osservatorio Bal- cani e Caucaso, Transeuropa (OBCT), PEN International, Reporters Without Borders (RSF) and Scottish PEN. Gafà has publicly professed his loyalty to Muscat's former chief of staff Keith Schembri and accompanied him out of court during his testimony in the Yorgen Fenech compilation of evidence. After his repudiation from the Labour government in 2020, the political renegade started flying his true colours: on Twitter he regularly salutes Matteo Salvini, leader of the Italian far-right and anti-im- migrant Lega party, or even posts videos of Giorgia Meloni, leader of the Italian far-right Fratelli d'Italia. With a sizeable following on social media, mainly Labour voters who think of him as a party loyalist, Gafà is promot- ing a petition to MPs that has garnered close to 40,000 signa- tories who are railing against "illegal immigrants" and do not want Malta to keep its har- bours closed during "periods of serious health threats". Gafà to be arraigned for threat over Twitter to Italian journalist Neville Gafà (right) on his way to court for the sitting during which Keith Schembri, his political master, testified in the compilation of evidence against Yorgen Fenech, the alleged mastermind in the Caruana Galizia assassination. He is seen here with Kenneth Camilleri, a former Security Service man detailed at the OPM who did Schembri's bidding as well as accompanied Gafà as unofficial envoy to Libya New ID cards 'extremely difficult to forge' WITH production and software testing of a new Maltese identity card coming to an end, the identification document is soon expected to enter into circulation. Parliamentary Secretary for Citizenship and Communities Alex Muscat said that apart from the aesthetic changes, the new identi- fication document will be even more secure. "The advancement in technology that Identi- ty Malta has made in recent months is trans- lating into further changes in how the agency operates. We will see that such developments remain at the forefront when it comes to the security of our identity." The new identity card will include a num- ber of embedded security features where one's personal details will be safely captured on a polycarbonate card, which will make it extremely difficult to forge or tamper with, without leaving signs of attack. Anton Sevasta, Identity Malta's CEO, an- nounced that next week Identity Malta Agen- cy will be issuing the first batch of new ID cards to senior citizens (60+ and 75+). This will be followed by the 14+ category and eventually to all Maltese citizens, unless any technical difficulties arise. The gradual roll-out of the new Maltese ID card will commence as from September. The new identity document will only be issued on new applications and renewals, and there will be no mass roll-out. Applicants applying for an ID card must present themselves at Gattard House in Bla- ta-l-Bajda to fill in the necessary forms and capture their biometric information. Further assistance is available on 2590-4300. ID cards in circulation will remain valid un- til their expiry date. The existing ID cards al- ready conform to high security standards, but new ones will make use of latest technology to further prevent document forgery and identi- ty theft. The polycarbonate card makes it extremely difficult to forge or tamper with, without leaving signs of attack