The British born 19-year-old ran away from home to join Isis in 2015
The husband of Shamima Begum has told the BBC that he wants to take the teenager and their newborn son to live in his native Netherlands.
27-year-old Isis fighter Yago Riedijk is currently held at Kurdish-run detention centre in Syria. They were married when he was 23 and she was still just 15.
Riedjik was found in the centre by the BBC.
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
“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,” he told the BBC when asked about marrying the 15-year-old, “but I accepted the offer anyway.
“We sat down and she seemed in a good state of mind. It was her own choice; she was the one who asked to look for a partner for her.”
“Then I was invited and, yeah, she was very young and it might have been better for her to wait a bit, but she didn’t – she chose to get married and I chose to marry her.”
In February, Shamima Begum gave birth to Riedijk’s son. He previously had a daughter, who died aged one year and nine months.
Begum ran away from her home in East London to join Islamic State in 2015, aged 15. Along with Riedijk, she is believed to have fled Baghuz in Eastern Syria, and is now in a refugee camp near the Iraq border.
The Home Office revoked her British citizenship last month after she said that she wanted to return home.
Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn questioned the decision, saying “she has that right to remain in Britain and obviously a lot of questions she has to answer but also some support that she needs.”
Riedijk was born in the Dutch suburbs, but fled to join Isis in 2014. He currently on a terrorism watch list.
