There are 14 Maltese nationals who are currently being held in prisons abroad, Foreign Affairs Minister Carmelo Abela said this evening.
He was replying to a parliamentary question by PN MP David Stellini.
The nationalist MP also asked how many of these had asked for government assistance to be brought back to Malta.
Abela said there are seven Maltese persons being held in prisons in Australia. There is one person in prison in Albania, one in Brazil, one in France, one in Italy, one in Libya, one in the United Kingdom and one in Tunisia.
The people in prisons in Albania, Brazil, France, the UK and Tunisia are serving a prison sentence, while the one who are being held in Italy and Libya are still undergoing court proceedings.
In Australia six of the seven Maltese nationals are being held in detention and are waiting for their cases to be processed while the seventh has been sent to a centre after having served a prison sentence.
These numbers, the minister said, only correspond with the number f people who asked for assistance from Maltese missions abroad.