The government will provide increased security for a European Parliament delegation that will visit Malta this week to examine the conditions in which immigrants are being detained on the island.

Some 19 members of the parliament’s civil liberties and justice committee will be in Malta on Thursday and Friday, led by the vice-president of the committee, Stefano Zappala.

The MEPs are expected to visit the two detention centres sheltering immigrants and will also meet government ministers and NGOs.

The increased security follows the arson attacks on all cars belonging to Jesuit priests at St Aloysius College last weekend. The arson attack, which has been widely condemned, is seen as retaliation for the clear stand taken by the Jesuit order against various manifestations of racism and the publication of an EU-commissioned report on racism and xenophobia in Malta.

But the increased security also stems from death threats posted on right-wing websites. This newspaper has seen, before it was removed from the website by the administrator, a clear death threat against MLP spokesman Gavin Gulia.

In another exchange, reported by Business Today, someone wrote: “I heard on the grapevine that last night all the Jesuits’ cars parked in St Aloysius College grounds were burnt.”

To which someone replied: “That’s nice. Were any Jesuits grilled?”

And, after receiving a negative answer, that someone wrote: “Too bad. If Jesuits had been grilled we could have had a holocaust memorial day of our own in a year’s time. Better luck next time, arsonists.”

“We are happy that a delegation from the European Parliament is coming to visit detention centres in Malta, because there is a need for more transparency. For example we don’t agree with the decision that the press cannot go in the detention centres,” said Fr Paul Pace, Assistant Director of the Jesuit Refugee Service in Malta.

Last year around 1,800 illegal immigrants landed in Malta, the majority of whom left from Libya.

“Libya lacks organisation and strategy to deal with immigration problems. We need to see it as a common problem for the EU,” said Maltese MEP Simon Busutill.

Since 1998, about 6,049 immigrants have landed in Malta –- which is 1.5 per cent of the whole population of just over 400,000.

At present, more than 1,100 immigrants are being detained in Malta.

This visit comes two weeks after leftist MEPs launched a campaign to close down all detention centres for illegal immigrants in Europe.

MEP Giusto Catania, who is part of this campaign and also part of the delegation visiting Malta, described detention centres as a legal dishonour.

Human rights groups have criticised the poor conditions in the centres and detainees have little access to information or medical care.

At the moment, several detainees are living in tents as the Maltese authorities are finding it difficult to accommodate all immigrants on the island.

MEPs are also likely to raise the issue of the length of detention for people in the camps.

“Unfortunately there are also detentions that exceed 18 months, something which is unacceptable,” Fr Pace said.