ISIS husband of Shamima Begum says he wants to return to the Netherlands with her

Shamima Begum’s Dutch husband has said he wants to return home and go back to ‘normal life’ after serving time in prison.

In a new interview, terrorist Yago Riedijk, 27, said that he feels ‘regret’ over his time in Syria.

He married Begum after meeting her in the war-torn country, but just 10 days after their wedding he was jailed by ISIS in Raqqa for seven months for spying charges.

Riedijk is currently languishing in a Kurdish jail, as U.S.-backed forces reclaimed the last of the so-called caliphate’s territory last month.

He said: ‘I wish to return home, spend the due time in jail, then go back to normal life with my wife, with no troubles, no wars, and no poverty, just to live.

‘For me, I recognised what wrong I did, and I knew ISIS reality. I feel regret, I want to go back to my normal life and improve myself, I would never go back to such error.’

After his release from prison, Riedijk was treated for his injuries before being sent to the front line.

Last month, he revealed the Begum – who he married when she was just 15 – was the ‘perfect wife’, describing her as ‘young and innocent’ and ‘very easy to love’.

He also shared his heartbreak at the death of his son Jerah, who died from a lung infection in early March at just three weeks old.

Jerah was the ISIS fighter’s third child with Begum, with all three having died prematurely.

The baby died soon after UK Home Secretary Sajid Javid refused to allow Begum into the country and revoked her citizenship.

Riedijk shared his sorrow at the death, before saying that his wife would be ‘heartbroken and alone’.

He added that he found out about Jerah’s death when he was told by a journalist, a few days after it happened.

Riedijk is being held in a Kurdish detention centre in north east Syria and faces six years behind bars if he returns home.

The ISIS fighter spoke about his love for his wife in an interview with The Times.

He said: ‘We got very close very quickly. The perfect wife. She was so young and innocent. It was very easy for me to love her.’

Riedijk travelled to Syria to join ISIS in October 2014, after converting to Islam when he fell in love with a Muslim girl at his school when he was a teenager.

Local media in Arnhem said he was raised in a ‘lovely’ middle class family before converting to Islam and leaving for Syria to join ISIS.

Riedijk claims that he immediately started doubting whether he had made the right decision, before being wounded by an airstrike.

It was as he was recovering from these injuries that he met 15-year-old Begum, introduced by a mutual friend.

Source: Daily Mail