Posted on 07/11/2007 9:48:29 AM PDT by COUNTrecount
To say they are an unlikely couple would be an understatement.
She is a 51-year-old grandmother and parish councillor from a village in Cheshire, he is a 27-year-old Arab scrap metal dealer from Jeddah... who just happens to be the son of Osama bin Laden.
But now, after a holiday romance which started when he saw her riding a horse near the Great Pyramid in Egypt, Jane Felix-Browne and Omar Ossama bin Laden have married.
Mrs Felix-Browne, who has been married five times before, met Bin Laden in Egypt last September while she was undergoing treatment for multiple sclerosis.
Her new husband already has a wife and a two-year-old child - under Islamic law men are permitted to have four wives - while Mrs Felix-Browne has three adult sons and five grandchildren.
They married in Islamic ceremonies in Egypt and Saudi Arabia and are now awaiting permission from the authorities in Riyadh to make the marriage official.
Mrs Felix-Browne, who will not be using her husband's name, is also trying to get him a visa so he can visit Britain.
At the moment she lives in Moulton - where she has various jobs including restoring houses and aircraft - and speaks to him every day over the internet
She said she was aware some people would be hostile to her marriage. "I hope people don't judge me too harshly," she told The Times.
The groom: Omar Ossama bin Laden, first met Jane Felix-Browne while horseriding
"I married the son, not the father."
She added: "I just married the man I met and fell in love with - to me he is just Omar. I hope people will take a step back and think what it was like when they fell in love.
"He is the most beautiful person I have ever met. His heart is pure, he is pious, quiet, a true gentleman, and he is my best friend."
Father-in-law: Osama Bin Laden
After their first encounter in September riding round the Pyramids, the pair got talking on a night ride the next day.
"This was the start of our intense friendship that culminated in our marriage," she told the Sun. "I saw him all day, every day. We rode together, ate together and talked non-stop.
"But we were never alone. Omar had little command of the English language, but there was chemistry there.
"We laughed all the time. We were falling in love.
"Omar said that when he is with me he forgets the world and all his problems."
Mrs Felix-Browne returned to Egypt in April, when she proposed to him. They married the same week in a traditional Muslim ceremony.
Friends of Mrs Felix-Browne laughed when she told them in the village pub she had married Osama bin Laden's son.
Regulars in the Lion pub in Moulton, Cheshire, thought she was joking when she said she had tied the knot with Omar Ossama bin Laden.
Landlord Jim Mellor, 62, said no one believed Mrs Felix-Browne when she first told pubgoers about the marriage two months after the ceremony in April.
He said: "There was a small group of us in the pub when she let slip she had married Osama bin Laden's son.
"Of course we all laughed and thought it was a wind-up. We all said 'pull the other one'.
"Jane was adamant though but I didn't believe her because I thought there would be a security issue about who she was marrying and she would be hardly allowed to tell anyone.
"We continued to rib her about it on and off over the next few weeks when she came into the pub.
"Although I doubted her I now have to accept it's true."
He said Mrs Felix-Browne, who he described as "very intelligent" and "always smartly dressed", had travelled to Egypt on a regular basis over the last 12 months to receive treatment for her multiple sclerosis.
Mr Mellor said: "I must admit I was beginning to have my suspicions about all these visits to Egypt. I thought there must be some other reason as to why she kept going over there."
He added she was a practising Muslim who did not drink alcohol. One of her parents is believed to have been a Muslim and it is reported she also uses the name Zaina Mohamad Al-Sabah.
Mrs Felix-Browne said British police had visited her to warn her of the personal security dangers of being married to the fourth-eldest son of the world's most wanted man. Bin Laden has a $25 million (£12.5 million) bounty from the US government on his head.
Mrs Felix-Browne believes she met her new husband's father at a party in London in the Seventies through a Saudi man she married when she was 16.
As leader of al Qaeda, Osama bin Laden has been held responsible for the 11 September 2001 attacks on the US and has been linked with several other terrorist plots including the 7/7 London bombings.
Mrs Felix-Browne, who uses the Muslim name Zaina Mohamad Al Sabah, said her husband has had no contact with his father since they were both in Afghanistan in 2000.
Omar bin Laden is one of 11 children his father had with Najwa, one of his wives.
The terror leader is thought to have 17 children.
Omar has been ostracised by the extensive Bin Laden clan because of his father's notoriety.
"He told me he has had no contact with his father since the day he left him. I am sure he is sincere about this fact," said Mrs Felix-Browne.
"He has no knowledge of his father's whereabouts. He had nothing to do with the 9/11 attacks and was as shocked as everyone else when it happened.
"I don't want any of my family upset by my actions. I know for everybody who likes me there will probably be a million enemies."
This sounds suspiciously like an old Herman’s Hermits song...
Did you go to the Natl’s in Lousiville or Albequerque? I’ve been lucky enough to compete in Lousiville.
I’ve never ridden a walker but hear they make wonderful trail horses.
Mrs. Bin Laden looks stoned in that picture.
Anyways, just my $0.02
Sorry, I didn’t realise that was what those looks were. I’ve seen those looks in a lot of pictures of many different peoples.
Wafa’s really pretty, and has a great sense of style.
...and murderous hell-spawns too.
I wonder why someone would choose Egypt as the place to be treated for MS.
For my education, can you post some of those pictures?
Lol! Thanks for trying anyway.
She looks like Judy Gulliani.
This will work out if she likes to skip the foreplay.
Yea she does.
Actually, I had the distinct honor of attending in Lousiville & Albuquerque! (I used to compete on the horse judging teams in 4-H. Some of the happiest, best memories I have!! I helped coach a team that went to Albuqurque, too. They won! I am from VA, and we had some of the best 4-H horse judging teams around...if I do say so myself!) :)
And, yes, if I am going to trail ride, I’ll be on a Walker. Period! (No offense to other breed lovers intended.) :)~
Congrats on the win! That’s got to be very satisfying. Not sure where you’re at in VA, but that is the same Arabian Horse Assn region in which I live...am from PA. The Lexington facility sure has some nice shows there and the Arabian sport horse nationals are there this year.
“You have a good reason to kill them?”
Actually several thousand good reasons. It reminds me of a story where a Russian diplomat was kidnapped, and the KGB found out where the family of one of the kidnappers lived, they took his mother, chopped her into pieces, and sent a box to the kidnappers and their man was released in just a couple days.
Someone like Bin Laden is just bad seed. You don’t need that in the gene pool. Besides, it would upset him to no end, which would warm my heart. That is, if he’s even still alive.
I don’t have any of them personally, I’m 56yo, and I’ve seen lots of pictures over the years. I remember them, but I couldn’t supply you with any, sorry. I suggest going through thousands of magazines, newspapers, tv shows, books, etc. over the next 20 or so years. I’m sure you’ll find some of the one’s I’m thinking of.
I am VERY close to the Lexington facility. We are sure glad you folks from PA (and everywhere else) come to our beautiful facility. When are the Arab Sport horse trials? I might have to wander that way and take a gander!
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