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Thousands of men are milking the system to support several wives
He cut a smart figure in his grey suit and crisply ironed shirt. The 6ft tall Somalian bowed to the judge, calling him ´Sir´, before begging for his wife, Fatima, and their teenage son to be allowed to stay in Britain.
Fatima, with a black khimar veil covering her hair and shoulders, sat quietly next to her husband. In her late 30s and wearing open sandals, she lowered her dark eyes as the details of the unconventional life she and her husband, Abdi, led in the West London suburb of Shepherd´s Bush unfolded at a busy immigration court.
The judge listened in silence. Perhaps he knew from past experience what was coming next. Abdi went on to reveal that Fatima was not his only wife.
Indeed, he was a self-confessed bigamist who had a second, much younger wife and a 13-year-old daughter by her. They both lived nearby.
´I visit them regularly,´ said Abdi, 51, who arrived in Britain in the 1990s and works in an old people´s home. ´I have done nothing wrong. In Somalia, it is normal to have two wives - even three or four. Fatima is still my wife and she should not be deported.´
He was unable to produce wedding certificates or valid official documents to prove where, or when, he had married both women, therefore raising questions over the validity of the unions, under either Somali or British law.
Yet his story, unravelling at an ordinary weekday hearing at Taylor House, an asylum appeals´ centre in North London, is just one example of the growing phenomenon of multiple marriage in Britain.
Officially, such unions are punishable by up to seven years in prison. They were first declared illegal in England and Wales in 1604, when the Parliament of James I took action to restrain ´evil persons´ marrying more than one wife. Parliament ruled that anyone found guilty of the crime would be sentenced to death. What is more, the review found, a Muslim man can claim state support of more than £10,000 a year to keep his wives, if the wedding took place in one of those countries where polygamy is commonplace, such as Bangladesh, Pakistan, India, Saudi Arabia and across huge tracts of Africa.
Yet it is clear that officialdom is turning a blind eye to such marriages.
For example, a man can receive &£92.80 a week in income support for wife number one, and a further £33.65p for each of his subsequent spouses. Therefore, if he has four wives - the maximum permitted under Islamic teachings - he can claim nearly £800 a month from the British taxpayer.
............. Last week, Baroness Warsi, a Tory spokesperson for community cohesion who is British-born of Pakistani parents, waded into the argument, warning that politicians have failed to tackle the problem of polygamy because of ´cultural sensitivity´. The respected Muslim peer told the BBC: ´We´ve just avoided either discussing or dealing with the matter head on.´
Baroness Warsi, a Muslim herself, urged the Government to bring in laws demanding the official registration of ´Nikah´ or religious Islamic marriage ceremonies, which often take place secretly in private houses with ´an imam and a couple of witnesses there´ - and which are used to get round our marriage laws.
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An interesting article I thought which illustrates well the point we Brits so often try to make here about how incredibly accommodating the UK legal system can be to immigrants.
Full article
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