Car bomb kills crusading journalist in Malta who investigated Panama Papers

Introduction

News sources today are reporting the tragic death of Daphne Caruana Galizia, a journalist who reported on the Panama Papers investigation and was renowned for her own investigations into corruption in Malta.

Caruana Galizia, 53, was reportedly killed in a car bombing near her home. Local media reports indicated that in recent days she had filed a police report complaining of death threats.

Caruana Galizia was a fearless journalist and blogger who exposed numerous offshore dealings of prominent figures in Malta. She was also the mother of International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ) developer and data journalist Matthew Caruana Galizia.

ICIJ spun off from the Center for Public Integrity earlier this year. John Dunbar, CEO of the Center condemned the attack, saying it was “not only a tragic killing of a courageous journalist but an attack on the profession as a whole. This must not go unpunished.”

ICIJ released a statement condemning the attack:

“ICIJ condemns violence against journalists and is deeply concerned about freedom of the press in Malta,” wrote its director, Gerard Ryle. “ICIJ calls upon the Maltese authorities to investigate the murder and bring the perpetrators to justice. ICIJ’s thoughts are with the Caruana Galizia family at this time.”

No group or individual has come forward to claim responsibility for the attack according to news accounts at this writing.