Blogger Daphne Caruana Galizia was held for two and a half hours at the Mosta police station for questioning after breaching the political silence by uploading posts on her blog earlier today. She was later released.

Ms Caruana Galizia, in a statement to journalists after her release, said she had been held following the uploading of an article on her site at 7pm.

At 9.30pm, police officers were at her home with a warrant of arrest signed by a magistrate. She was taken to the Mosta police station.

She said that the law on the day of silence preceding an election was appalling. She believed that while it could be understandable that political parties stopped their campaigning, there should be no law to stop people from writing.

Ms Caruana Galizia said that there were others who placed adverts and published comment s on the internet and these had not been arrested. The police told he she could file a complaint. But she refused to do so because she is against such a law.

She expressed surprise that she was being taken to the police station by Inspector Keith Arnaud, from the homicide squad, and a CID inspector.

The police, she added, were operating with a legacy of past years when they behaved threateningly and abusively.