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Mariam's family give Galloway their support KAREN MCVEIGH http://www.thescotsman.co.uk/index.cfm?id=468642003 SHE has become a potent political symbol, a little girl who gave her name to a campaign now at the heart of one of the biggest political controversies of modern times. Mariam Hamza, eight, is oblivious to the mounting furore surrounding George Galloway, the MP who brought her to the UK for treatment. The campaign later broadened out into a political fight to remove sanctions, and now Mr Galloway faces serious questions over both the Mariam Appeal and his broader financial links with the former Iraqi regime. Yet to Mariam’s parents, Mr Galloway is not a politician accused of taking money from the Iraqi government in return for his lobbying and support, he is the man who saved their child. Hamza Abid, Mariam’s father, said: "I really like Mr George Galloway because Mr George Galloway helped my Mariam and helped my family." Her mother, Karima, added: "He is a good person. I cannot describe him in mere words. He is the one who saved my daughter. "She was dying, she was like a skeleton and then God sent Mr Galloway from nowhere." The Labour MP is facing a possible investigation into the appeal. Lord Goldsmith, the attorney general, is studying a complaint from a member of the public that Mr Galloway promised to spend all the money raised by the Mariam Appeal on treating sick Iraqi children, but used it to fund his travelling expenses. Lord Goldsmith is expected to decide in the next few days whether it is a matter for him, or for the Charity Commission, or whether the matter should be taken further at all. Yesterday, as Mr Galloway mounted a vigorous defence over newspaper reports of his wealth, the official spokesman for Tony Blair, the Prime Minister, described the claims against the MP as "serious allegations". Ian Duncan Smith, the Conservative leader, has called for a parliamentary investigation into the Glasgow Kelvin MP’s affairs. Mr Galloway yesterday issued a statement which sought to correct "deliberately misleading" comments about his property and income. The Daily Telegraph, which made the original claims that he profited from the United Nations oil-for-food programme in Iraq, published a memo yesterday which it said was from Saddam Hussein’s most senior aide, rejecting Mr Galloway’s request for more money as "exceptional". The MP, whose lawyers describe the allegations as "totally untrue" has taken legal action against the newspaper. The Scotsman has learned that the UN has received no complaint surrounding the claims. Any allegation of a serious breach of protocol involving the oil-for-food programme would be investigated by the UN Security Council’s 661 sanctions committee. For the committee to investigate, it would have to receive a complaint by one of the member states. One UN source said: "We are not aware of the case." The office of Sir Philip Mawer, the Parliamentary Commissioner for Standards, said he had not received any complaint about Mr Galloway. The MP - at his Portuguese villa - denounced the claims as a "set up and a smear". And he hit out at reports that he owned four properties, including the villa, which was said to be worth a quarter of a million pounds. In a statement, he said the villa was worth £82,000, while his other London property in Streatham, which he owns with his wife Dr Amineh Abu-Zayyad, was recently valued at £500,000. He added: "As the Register of Members Interests makes clear, in addition to my salary as an MP I earn a substantial amount of money as a journalist." The Prime Minister, Tony Blair, last night said it would not be "constructive" to discuss the allegations when they were subject to legal action. He said: "I made my views clear about what he had to say during the war but on the allegations in the newspapers I don’t think it would be right to comment." Labour National Executive member Mark Seddon said: "[Mr Galloway’s] career has been written off many times before. I suspect that all of this is rather premature and I think the Labour Party is being quite careful at the moment. "I think it will go into the long grass, not deliberately to make the issue go away, but because there is going to be a court case. ©2003 scotsman.com _______________________________________________ Sent via the discussion list of the Campaign Against Sanctions on Iraq. To unsubscribe, visit http://lists.casi.org.uk/mailman/listinfo/casi-discuss To contact the list manager, email casi-discuss-admin@lists.casi.org.uk All postings are archived on CASI's website: http://www.casi.org.uk