One question that intrigues me is whether Amaral's reference to calpol night in his book would be libel by Portuguese law.
It certainly would by UK ...
MADELEINE SLEEPS BADLY
One of the police officers who went to the McCanns' home in England, reported that a medical monitoring chart for Madeleine was posted in the kitchen. This referred to her sleep problems and made clear that she was waking several times in the night. The paternal grandfather stated that Kate gave the little girl - and also the twins - Calpol, a medication designed to facilitate falling asleep. That seems to be a common practice in Great Britain; they even talk about a "Calpol generation." In recent years, the possible presence of an antihistamine with sedative effects in Calpol has aroused great controversy. Recently, the same laboratory put Calpol Night on the market, whose ingredients clearly list that it contains an antihistamine.
Amaral has stopped (just) short of saying Kate and Gerry gave Madeleine the drug.
But that is the impression far too many people have formed, including Morais, who wrote a particularly vicious blog on the subject.
So is Amaral's reference libel?