ISIS bride Shamima Begum’s jihadi husband has surfaced in Syrian captivity and told reporters it was Begum’s “own choice” to marry him when she was just 15.
Yago Riedijk, 27, told the BBC from a Kurdish-run detention center that he met Begum within days of her arrival in Syria when she was 15. He said in an interview aired Sunday that the marriage was “her own choice.”
When asked if marrying a 15-year-old was appropriate, he said: “To be honest, when my friend came and said there was a girl who was interested in marriage, I wasn’t that interested because of her age, but I accepted the offer anyway.”
Shamima Begum’s husband Yago Riedijk describes their marriage, arranged by the Islamic State Group. #ShamimaBegum #Isis pic.twitter.com/gllNgR1xba
— Quentin Sommerville (@sommervilletv) March 3, 2019
Riedijk, who surrendered to Syrian fighters and ended up in a detention center, faces a six-year jail term for joining a terror organization if he returns to the Netherlands. The jihadi was convicted in the summer of 2018 in absentia, according to the Evening Standard.
His Dutch citizenship has not been revoked and he told the BBC he would like to return to the Netherlands with Begum and their newborn son.
Shamima Begum’s husband, Dutch jihadist Yago Riedijk, says he wants to return to Holland with his wife and their newborn baby and live “a moderate Muslim life”. See his first interview https://t.co/aBOrVrD8cb pic.twitter.com/05uMGZIL8o
— Quentin Sommerville (@sommervilletv) March 3, 2019
Begum fled east London with two other friends to travel to Syria to marry ISIS fighters in 2015 at a time when the group’s online recruitment program lured many young people to its self-proclaimed caliphate.
Begum, now 19, resurfaced at a refugee camp in Syria and recently told reporters she wanted to come home. But her apparent lack of remorse has triggered criticism in Britain and the family has expressed its own shock at her lack of repentance.
Home Secretary Sajid Javid has revoked her citizenship—even while saying he wouldn’t make a decision that would render a person stateless. Her family has insisted she isn’t a dual citizen. The case will be argued in the courts.
Begum’s comments—and those of her husband—throw into sharp relief larger questions about how Western societies will deal with others who joined ISIS, but want to return to their home countries now that the terrorist group is on the verge of collapse.
The Netherlands has declined to comment on individual cases.
‘Highly Damaged’
The mother of the remorseless Begum earlier expressed fears that her “highly damaged” daughter might brainwash her newborn son with ISIS propaganda.
Speaking through family lawyer Tansime Akunjee, Begum’s mother, Asma, was cited by the British news outlet The Sun as saying that she wants her grandson to be taken away from Begum and brought to the UK because she “doesn’t want the grandchild indoctrinated.”
“Her mum doesn’t even recognize her,” Akunjee said, adding, “They’re eager to take the baby and bring him up as her situation is sorted.”
“Shamima is highly damaged and the family don’t want the newborn brought up by her in that state of mind,” he said.
After running away from London at the age of 15 to join the murderous jihadi cult, a heavily pregnant Begum surfaced in a refugee camp several weeks ago, pleading to be allowed back to Britain. She recently gave birth to a baby boy, whom she named Jerrah, which according to the Mirror in Arabic means “able fighter” or “one who wounds.”
Historian and author Tom Holland said in a tweet: “If she’d wanted to signal that she was returning to Britain in peace, she might have considered naming her baby after someone other than Abu Ubaidah ibn al-Jarrah.
“[He was] a general from the early days of the Arab conquests chiefly famed for beating the [expletive] out of infidels.”
Honestly, she has the moral self-awareness of a brick. https://t.co/xbFylA2shV
— Tom Holland (@holland_tom) February 17, 2019
The Associated Press and The Epoch Times reporter Tom Ozimek contributed to this report.
