IRISH FREEDOM COMMITTEE POW DEPT.
DEADLY DISEASE THREAT TO IRISH REPUBLICAN PRISONERS AT MAGHABERRY

PRESS RELEASE

CONTACT:
The Irish Freedom Committee
P.O. Box 11417, Chicago IL 60611
Saoirse (at) irishfreedomcommittee.net
www.irishfreedomcommittee.net

DEADLY DISEASE THREAT TO IRISH REPUBLICAN PRISONERS AT MAGHABERRY

July 07, 2006

Irish republican prisoners at Maghaberry Prison are being exposed to a deadly disease threat during outdoor exercise. The political prisoners' only access to fresh air, one or two hours utdoors on alternating days, is given in a tiny enclosed cage derisively known as "the birdcage"; which is covered ceiling and floor with bird droppings.

Exposure to bird droppings is directly linked to a variety of fatal illnesses in humans including Asthma, Cryptococcosis, Mycosis, Histoplasmosis, Salmonellosis, Psittacosis, and Meningitis. Bird droppings are also a known risk factor for Avian bird flu. A recent report from the New Jersey Dept. of Health warns "Bird flu is spread when infected birds shed the virus in their saliva, nasal secretions and droppings. Public health officials believe people were infected with bird flu after they had contact with these bodily fluids, or surfaces contaminated with these fluids."

Avian bird flu virus thrives in moist, dirty conditions, making Maghaberry Prison a prime breeding ground as the facility is built on boggy soil. Republican prisoners recently refused to take exercise in the "birdcage" as backed up water drains filled with rotting vegetation made the stench in the exercise yard unbearable. Wet, dirty conditions are clearly already in existence in the yard, and with the recent outbreaks of Avian bird flu in Scotland it is imperative that the exercise yard at Maghaberry Prison be immediately decontaminated, according to existing hazardous waste standards, and the facilities be thoroughly bird-proofed.

To intentionally confine human beings in a toxic bird-dropping infested cage and call it "exercise" is barbaric in the extreme and illustrates the total contempt the Northern Ireland Prison Service has for the lives of republican prisoners. This selective and inhumane treatment accompanies a litany of other abuses recently documented by the Irish Freedom Committee during visits to the jail. We will continue to press for an immediate independent and all-inclusive health inspection at Maghaberry jail, and an immediate and thorough decontamination of the exercise facilities at the jail in line with Avian Bird Flu prevention standards worldwide.

- The Irish Freedom Committee

ENDS

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Join the Irish Freedom Committee
www.irishfreedomcommittee.net
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MORE INFORMATION:

MAGHABERRY PRISON CRISIS ESCALATES
www.irishfreedomcommittee.net/POWs/MAGHABERRY_PRISON_CRISIS_ESCALATES.htm

Irish Freedom Committee Report from Maghaberry Prison – June 2006
www.irishfreedomcommittee.net/POWs/IFC_report_Maghaberry_0606.htm

IFC Action Request – Republican Prisoners on Protest at Maghaberry (June 21 2006)
www.irishfreedomcommittee.net/ACTION_ALERTS/actionrequest_PROTESTmaghab.htm

IFC POW Dept
www.irishfreedomcommittee.net/POWs/ifc_pow_dept.htm

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