Will Pawlu Lia kindly teach his client how libel law works

Listening to Konrad Mizzi demanding that Beppe Fenech Adami reads out what I wrote about him and his scandal, on Times Talk tonight, so that he can sue him first thing in the morning, was exhausting.

I’ve just realised that besides clearly suffering from some form of autism spectrum disorder that leaves him unable to react normally – his face was impassive and unflinching and he doesn’t understand what is expected of him – Mizzi is also pretty thick.

No wonder Joseph Muscat and Keith Schembri chose him as their human tool.

Even those who know nothing about libel law can work the following out for themselves, with a bit of thought. If you demand of somebody that he reads something out, you can’t then sue him for reading it out because he has done so at your express request.

You sue somebody for libel when they have said the libelous thing in question against your wishes. The whole point of the exercise is to obtain damages from them for saying it, or, under the criminal defamation law, to punish them through conviction for doing so.

The same applies to the Labour Party’s and the government’s constant and repeated demands that the Opposition leader should “repeat outside parliament what he said in parliament”. If they are specifically asking him to say it, then they cannot sue him for saying it.

There is the world of difference between telling somebody, “Say that outside parliament and I’ll sue you immediately”, which is actually a warning NOT to say it, and demanding that he says it so that they can sue him.