100,000 use website that helps Muslims to take a second wife

A WEBSITE set up to help Muslim men find ‘second wives’ in the UK has more than 100,000 users.

Having more than one spouse is illegal in the UK, with a jail sentence of up to seven years. But the website secondwife.com, where men outnumber women three to one, relies on unregistered religious ceremonies.

Campaigners yesterday lambasted the site for encouraging vulnerable women into abusive relationships that lead to loneliness, physical abuse and even trafficking. Yasmin Rehman, of the Centre for Secular Space, said the website was ‘deeply dangerous’ and called on politicians to take action. The unofficial ceremonies also mean partners lose out on legal marriage rights. But the website’s founder Azad Chaiwala, 34, from Sunderland, said it benefited women.

He said they choose to sign up and he was responding to a need. It is estimated there may be up to 20,000 polygamous marriages in the UK Muslim community.