Moviment Graffitti, Alternattiva Demokratika, Fondazzjoni Mid-Dlam ghad-Dawl and individuals will be organizing a protest in solidarity with Daniel Holmes at 11am, this Saturday, meeting at City Gate, Valletta, five days before the verdict following Daniel Holmes’s appeal is read.

Holmes is serving a 10 and a half year sentence and a fine of €23,000 for the possession of cannabis plants. Despite no evidence that Holmes was selling, or even intended to sell cannabis, he was given a sentence typically delivered to drug dealers because of anomalies in the law, the Free Daniel Holmes Campaign said.

These are namely that cultivation, no matter how small the amount, is not considered as possession but carries penalties at par with trafficking and that he was charged with sharing the drugs with his friend Barry Lee. For Maltese law this is the equivalent of drug trafficking. Barry Lee took his own life in custody when he came to know what kind of sentence he was facing. Among Lee’s charges there was also that of sharing (thus trafficking) with his friend Daniel Holmes.

An inquest was initiated after Lee’s death but it is not known whether this inquiry was ever concluded or if so what were the findings, the statement said. This is highly unfair for Lee’s family and for the families of those incarcerated in Malta, because they cannot be sure that their loved ones are safe while in custody.

The Free Daniel Holmes Campaign insists that anything less than the immediate acquittal of Holmes “amounts to a serious injustice”. This is a case where technicalities in the law have taken over any common sense and humanity. It also pressures the government to revise legislation as soon as possible so that such anomalies are corrected.

Daniel Holmes’ case is the most shocking and high profile. However it is very likely there are other people perishing in our prisons because of these legal technicalities, the statement said.