Sex offender in Irish jail sues prison for kosher food

(JTA) — A jailed sex offender in Ireland has brought a High Court challenge against prison authorities to compel them to meet his kosher dietary needs.

At Dublin’s High Court on Wednesday, Ivan Peter Gan, aka Peter Ivan Dunne, sought to bring judicial review proceedings against the Governor of Arbour Hill Prison, the Prison Services, and the Minister for Justice, ordering them to provide him with kosher food, according to the Irish Independent.

Gan, who is originally from England and reportedly converted to Judaism several years ago, complained to the court that prison authorities were not complying with his kosher dietary needs.

He is serving a five-year jail term in Ireland after he was convicted in Kilkenny Circuit Criminal Court of having sex with a mentally impaired woman in 2001 while working in the city. He fled to England, but was extradited to Ireland in 2009.

Gan previously brought up his dietary requests to an English court in 2009 to oppose his extradition on human rights grounds claiming that Irish prison authorities would not provide him with food free from onions, which he is allergic to.