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AMSTERDAM, Netherlands, Nov. 21 (UPI) -- Officials in the Netherlands have extended detention for a Dutch teenager who traveled to Syria to marry an Islamist fighter. The girl, referred to as "Aicha" in court, is charged with joining a terrorist organization, and if convicted could face 30 years in prison.
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The recent convert to Islam was brought back from Syria by her mom, who is not a terror suspect. Her mother insists Aicha is just a typical teenage girl who fell in love.
Aicha traveled to Syria in February and married a Dutch-Turkish fighter Omar Yilmas, who once served in the Dutch army.
He has described himself as an aid worker, trainer and fighter, though hasn't specified which faction he works for. He said he married Aicha after the man she intended to marry after meeting him online was killed —but Aicha and Yilmas quickly separated.
"It didn't work," he told the BBC. "She went her way, I went my way."
The teen is currently being held in solitary confinement and is forbidden to talk to the media or relatives other than her mother.
Aicha is one a small but growing number of European teen girls who have traveled to Syria and Iraq recently in hopes of marrying or joining the fighting.
