The Dutch man who married a British teenager after she ran away to join the extremist group Islamic State (IS) says he wants to return home to the Netherlands with her and their newborn son, the BBC reported on March 3.
Yago Riedijk, 27, told the BBC from a Kurdish-run detention center that he met Shamima Begum within days of her arrival in Syria when she was 15.
When asked if marrying 15-year-old was appropriate, he said: "It was her own choice. She asked to look for a partner for her, and I was invited. She was very young.... She chose to get married and I chose to marry her."
Riedijk says that while he fought for IS, he now rejects the group and tried to leave it.
Begum, 19, left London with two school friends to join IS when she was 15 but now wants to return to the U.K. with her son.
Her British citizenship was revoked last month.