...is how much the Mariam foundation used to give to Mariam. Plus another 800 a year for rent. From the UK Telegraph

The father of Mariam Hamza, the 11-year-old Iraqi leukaemia victim championed by George Galloway, said yesterday that he was worried his daughter's life was in danger because funds promised by the Scottish MP's Mariam Appeal had failed to arrive.
Hamza Abd Mittab said that the monthly allowance of £65 that the family of seven has received for three years from the appeal, to pay for Mariam's food and travel expenses, had last been paid in January. Speaking at the family home in Baghdad yesterday, he said: "Mariam's drugs are almost finished now and my daughter will die if she doesn't receive assistance."
The family has been told that Mariam, 11, who contracted acute lymphocytic leukaemia in 1997, must be treated regularly until she is 18. She is due to travel to Jordan for chemotherapy treatment in June, but Mr Hamza says he cannot afford to make the journey.
Mariam recently suffered a 15-minute shaking fit, which has happened once previously when Mr Hamza was two days late for a hospital appointment in Jordan.
The family has also been threatened with eviction from its house, whose annual rent of £800 has always been paid by the appeal. They are already 25 days in arrears after the lease expired on April 1 and the property's owner has demanded that they continue the previous arrangement of paying a year in advance. Money for the rent has not been received from the Mariam Appeal.

As for Mr Galloway, he's now appealing for donations to help his libel actions. From the Guardian

George Galloway yesterday launched an appeal to fund his high court libel battle against two newspapers that claimed he received money from Saddam Hussein's regime.
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The MP, who earns about £70,000 a year as a columnist for the Mail on Sunday as well as his £55,000 parliamentary salary, is estimated to have won more than £200,000 from previous libel cases.
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He is awaiting an independent translation of the Arabic files the Daily Telegraph said it found in a bombed Baghdad building, which allegedly show he received up to £375,000 a year from the Iraqi regime.
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The attorney general, Lord Goldsmith, is also considering whether to investigate the running of the Mariam Appeal, which was founded by Mr Galloway to treat a young Iraqi leukaemia sufferer but later transformed into an anti-sanctions campaign. It received £1m over four years, including £500,000 from the United Arab Emirates and £100,000 from Saudi Arabia, with most of the rest coming from a Jordanian businessman, Fawaz Zureikat.

After the initial cost of treatment (£100,000) a total of £5000 of which has actually reached Mariam over 3 years. But no longer. Again, from the Telegraph

The appeal set up by George Galloway to treat a sick Iraqi child spent more than £800,000 on political campaigns and expenses, including a direct salary payment to his wife, the MP admitted yesterday.
Dr Amineh Abu Zayyad, Mr Galloway's Palestinian wife, was paid around £18,000 by the appeal fund to "look after" Mariam Hamza, the girl who received treatment for leukaemia in Britain and America.
The activities of the Mariam Appeal, established in 1998 to raise £100,000 to treat the child, are being investigated by the Charity Commission. Mr Galloway disclosed basic details of the appeal's expenditure to the Mail on Sunday, from which he receives £75,000 for a weekly column.
He said the fund's accounts, when fully revealed, would show that, after spending £100,000 on Mariam's treatment, it spent £860,000 on anti-sanctions campaigns, expenses and administration.
Four times as much money was spent on renting offices in central London and in paying staff salaries as went on treating Mariam.
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Mr Galloway has said his regular visits to Baghdad were on Mariam Appeal business and to check on life in the country under UN sanctions. The appeal was set up in 1998 to raise £100,000 to treat Mariam. Mr Galloway said at the time: "The balance after Mariam's hospital bills have been paid will be sent as medicine and medical supplies to the children she had to leave behind."
But he now admits that, after spending £100,000 on treating Mariam, the fund spent £200,000 on a Big Ben-to-Baghdad double decker bus publicity trip and £60,000 on a sanctions-busting flight to Baghdad.
London offices accounted for £125,000 while £300,000 was spent on wages.

Posted By Alan E Brain at April 30, 2003 09:35 PM | TrackBack