George is still married to me, says third Mrs Galloway
Third wife (and mother of his new baby) says they’re still wed, then his mother-in-law warns: He’ll only marry someone else next year
GEORGE Galloway’s fourth marriage was off to a rocky start yesterday – after his third wife declared he was still wed to her.
In a bitter verbal assault, Rima Husseini, who gave birth to their second son only four months ago, hit out at the 57year-old politician’s ‘morals’.
The Lebanese researcher said: ‘We are still married under Islamic law. There is a misconception you can have up to four wives in Islam – but it’s just not true in the 21st century.
‘It may have been the case hundreds of years ago as a way of looking after women in the villages who had lost their husbands, but it doesn’t exist now.
‘It’s just a stupid, man-made thing in some Arab countries. It’s not true. Under Islamic law we remain married.’
The Respect MP’S third wife, speaking outside the West London home she shares with their two young children, added: ‘Under English law, he hasn’t done anything illegal. But morally, it’s a different story. I have been asking for a divorce, but he has been refusing me one for months. To this day he refuses to grant me a divorce.
‘He came this morning to pick up his son and we spoke.’
Mr Galloway also received ‘both barrels’ from Miss Husseini’s mother. She said her daughter was ‘better off’ without the newlyelected MP for Bradford West, after it was revealed he had married for a fourth time.
The politician showed no remorse yesterday as he winked and boasted about being ‘up all night’ with his latest bride – 27 year- old Dutch- Indonesian Putri Gayatri Pertiwi.
The Mail revealed yesterday how Mr Galloway flew to Amsterdam hours after winning the Bradford West by-election and then married Miss Pertiwi in a Dutch hotel on Saturday.
Few details of the service have been revealed.
Yesterday he posed for pictures outside his £1.4million home in Streatham, South London, alongside his research consultant fourth wife, who is 30 years his junior.
However, just four months ago Miss Husseini, who also worked as his researcher, gave birth to their second son Faris.
The couple had married in a Muslim ceremony in 2007 and have an older son called Zein, aged four.
Yesterday Miss Husseini’s Leba- nese family branded the MP a womaniser and claimed his latest union might not last very long.
Her mother Maha said: ‘Next year he will have another wife.’
Referring to all the publicity about his marriages, she added: ‘At least they know him.’
Speaking about how her daughter might feel, she said: ‘Ask yourself if you would be angry. Maybe she is better off like that.’
She went on: ‘Rima is only bothered about the children. Of course he sees the children I think. I don’t ask her a lot.’
In the past, father of three Mr Galloway, a Roman Catholic, has claimed that he speaks to his children and grandchildren ‘every day’. Mr Galloway is understood to have known Miss Pertiwi, who is two years younger than his 29-year-old daughter Lucy, for some six months. The couple met while she helped with his ‘Viva Palestina’ charity.
Yesterday morning Mr Galloway mischievously claimed he had been ‘up all night’ – but picking candidates for Bradford city council elections. ‘I was heavily involved, and was up until 2.45am precisely,’ he explained.
He then winked and added: ‘By the Grace of God I am – to coin a phrase – indefatigable.’
Mr Galloway caused outrage in 1994, three years after the Gulf War, when he met Saddam Hussein and was filmed telling the dictator that he praised his ‘strength, courage and indefatigability.’
Yesterday, Mr Galloway – nicknamed Gorgeous George – was less than forthcoming when asked to discuss the attributes of his fourth wife. He told reporters: ‘Why would I want to discuss my personal life?’ before adding that he would ‘stand here all day and talk politics’.
Miss Pertiwi – a Muslim anthropologist and child rights specialist – studied cultural anthropology at the University of Utrecht before taking a Master’s degree at Amsterdam University.
On one of her blogs she revealed that her parents emigrated to the Netherlands at a young age from Indonesia and had three children. Between 1979 and 1999 Mr Galloway was married to his former teenage sweetheart, Elaine Fyffe. The couple separated in 1987 but did not divorce for 12 years.
The politician took Dr Amineh Abu-zayyad, a Palestinian scientist, as a second wife in a Muslim ceremony in 1994.
A year after his divorce from Miss Fyffe in 1999, he married Dr AbuZayyad in a civil ceremony in Lambeth.
In 2009 Dr Abu-zayyad obtained an uncontested divorce citing unreasonable behaviour.
Mr Galloway then married his third wife Rima in a Muslim ceremony in 2007.