Gift of Life yesterday announced the retraction of an announcement made last November that Alternattiva Demokratika chairman Harry Vassallo had signed the pro-life petition, which to date has been signed by 36 members of Parliament.

Gift of Life director Paul Vincenti explained, in a story that first appeared on The Malta Independent on Sunday, that Dr Vassallo had emailed Gift of Life in 2006 claiming to have signed the online petition.

However, he added, recent investigations have shown that, in fact, Dr Vassallo did not sign the petition.

“At the time we issued the press release, with Dr Vassallo’s authorisation, announcing that he had signed the petition. Recently however, Dr Vassallo told a journalist that he never signed the pro-life petition,” said Mr Vincenti.

Following research in Gift of Life’s online database, they discovered that even though he claimed to have signed the petition, Dr Vassallo had not.

“We are therefore forced to announce that we no longer consider Dr Vassallo as one of the supporters of the right to life campaign,” said Mr Vincenti.

He said that they are disappointed and rather confused at this situation and “we cannot offer an explanation as to why Dr Vassallo claimed to have signed the petition knowing well that in fact he had not.”