A MAN awaiting trial on charges of making a menacing phone call to a US lawyer has claimed before the High Court his right to practise his Muslim religion has been breached due to conditions in Cork prison.
Ali Charaf Damache (45), a native of Algeria, with an address at High Street, Waterford, has secured leave to bring judicial review proceedings aimed at securing his transfer to another prison. He claims he previously spent one month in Wheatfield prison in Dublin and experienced no problems there.
Yesterday, his solicitor Caroline Egan said her client had been subject to abuse by inmates and prison staff. A drawing of a cartoon depicting the prophet Muhammad in an insulting manner was left in his cell, she said.
Mr Justice Michael Peart granted Mr Damache permission to bring judicial review proceedings against the governor on Cork prison, the Irish Prison Services, the Minister for Justice and the Attorney General.
Mr Damache claims his rights under the Constitution and European Convention on Human Rights to practise his religion freely are being breached in the circumstances of his detention.
In an affidavit, Ms Egan said her client was subjected to racial abuse by prison officers and inmates and was called a “f***ing Muslim” and “Osama Bin Laden”. Her client was a devout Muslim who prayed five times daily. As part of his faith, he must wash himself and go to the toilet before he prayed, but was unable to pray at times because he and two other Muslims were in a cramped cell with no running water and no proper toilet.
He and his cell-mates must slop out every morning and inmates were only allowed one shower a week, Ms Egan added. As a result, he was unable to pray for periods of up to a week, which had caused him great distress.
Mr Damache also claimed prison officers had on occasions refused to permit him to go to the toilet on the prison landing before prayer. He did not get on well with the prison staff and had spent a month in solitary confinement, Ms Egan said. He was also on a vegetarian diet because he was unable to get information on whether meat served in the prison was acceptable under his religion.