How did I miss this story?

Now usually celebrity gossip doesn't interest me (much). That said, this item reported by the London Times already a week ago sure was fascinating:

A British woman has married a son of Osama bin Laden after a holiday romance and is to apply for a visa so that he can visit Britain, The Times has learnt.

Jane Felix-Browne, a 51-year-old grandmother and parish councillor from Cheshire, has until now kept her marriage to Omar Ossama bin Laden, 27, secret from everyone apart from her immediate family and close friends. But she has now agreed to speak about her relationship with bin Laden’s fourth eldest son.

The couple reportedly met when the already five-times married Mrs Felix-Browne, was in Egypt seeking treatment for her multiple sclerosis. (Note that this is how desperate a patient in national health system must be.)

She says he fell in love with her at first sight, when he saw her riding a horse at the Great Pyramid. (And I thought the pyramids were to be disdained by Salafis, being the pre-Islamic monuments they are.)

This, incidentally, is her second marriage to a Saudi man. She married her first when she was 19.

As the Times report continues:

Omar bin Laden left Saudi Arabia as a child when his father was expelled for his extremist beliefs, his wife said. Living in exile in Sudan and then Afghanistan, he saw at first hand the creation of al-Qaeda and its techniques. Mrs Felix-Browne said: “I never had any problem with his past. Omar did not do anything wrong. He was a child when he was in Afghanistan.”

She said that her husband left Afghanistan before the attacks on the US on September 11, 2001. However, some reports claim that he split from his father only after the attack on New York and an argument about tactics.

Mrs Felix-Browne insisted: “He last saw his father in 2000 when they were both in Afghanistan. He left his father because he did not feel it was right to fight or to be in an army. Omar was training to be a soldier and he was only 19.

“He told me he has had no contact with his father since the day he left him. He misses his father. Omar doesn’t know if it was his father who was responsible for the 9/11 attacks. I don’t think we will ever know.”

I wonder if that last remark means that Omar doesn't think his father was behind the attacks. Does that mean Omar thinks his father lies and tries to steal credit then?

Anyway, as the Times story continues:

Apart from their religion the couple appear to have little in common. She has three sons and five grandchildren and is a respected parish councillor in the village of Moulton. She has had various jobs, including restoring houses and aircraft, and is a keen rider and scuba diver.

He works as a scrap metal dealer in Jedda and is one of at least 17 children fathered by bin Laden. His father’s reputation means that he has been ostracised by the wealthy and powerful bin Laden family and is under surveillance by the security services in Saudi Arabia.

Mrs Felix-Browne, who now uses the Islamic name Zaina Mohamad, says that she speaks to her husband for several hours every day over the internet or by telephone. During their conversations she refers to him repeatedly as “Habibi”, the Arabic for “my love”. She said: “I find it very difficult to live without him and I know he does too. But really we have the most normal life possible."

Did she really just say their life was normal? Well, perhaps by the standards of someone who has been married five times before. As the Times continues:

She was aware before her marriage that her husband already had another wife and a two-year-old child. “I haven’t seen her but I have spoken to her for about an hour on the telephone,” she said. “She is fine about it.”

I have to say, I doubt this marriage is normal even by Saudi - or Bin Laden - standards. If you want to see pictures, you have to click the link to the Times story (above).