Islamic State Leader’s Ex-Wife: Baghdadi Was a ‘Normal Family Man’

The alleged ex-wife of the notorious Islamic State (ISIS/ISIL) leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi has reportedly described him as a “normal family man” before the jihadist group declared him the “Caliph” and “leader for Muslims everywhere.”

Baghdadi’s former 28-year-old wife, Saga al-Dulaimi, who managed to escape, said she was engaged in a “shallow” marriage to a “normal family man,” who, besides giving “orders,” spoke very little.

“How he then became Emir of the most dangerous terrorist organisation in the world is a mystery to me,” the ex-wife told the Swedish publication Expressen.

Al-Dulaimi has a daughter with the reclusive ISIS boss.

Al-Baghdadi was “a normal person who was a university lecturer” in religious studies when he got engaged to his ex-wife.

“That was in 2008 when he went by the name Hisham Mohammad, and long before he became the world’s most wanted man,” notes Khaama Press.

“Fast forward several years and Mohammad had quickly turned into a fanatic named Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, rising up the ranks of the nascent Islamist group which now claims territory across vast swathes of the Middle East and North Africa,” it adds.

The United States is offering up to $10 million as a bounty for the so-called Caliph’s head, rendering him one of the most wanted terrorists in the world.

“His voice was last heard in a 24-minute audio message released in December 2015, claiming his organisation was ‘thriving’ despite” U.S.-led coalition efforts against ISIS.

Despite the audio message that surfaced last December purportedly featuring the self-declared Caliph’s voice, various news outlets have claimed that the ISIS chief has been executed or wounded.

Al-Dulaimi, an Iraq native, wed Baghdadi after U.S. troops killed her first husband. She fled the relationship after moving in with his first wife.

She said, “I left him. Yes, you could say that I fled from him. It had nothing to do with him as a person. I wasn’t happy. It was unfair on his first wife. She was very upset. That’s why I left.”

“No, I was not in love with him. I didn’t love him. He was an enigmatic person. You couldn’t have a discussion or hold a normal conversation with him.”

Baghdadi’s ex-wife was released in a prisoner swap with al-Qaeda’s Syrian wing (ISIS rival), Nusra Front. The exchange occurred in Arsal, a border town located in Lebanon, a stronghold controlled by Iran’s terror proxy, Hezbollah.

Al-Dulaimi and “12 other Islamists were exchanged for 16 captured soldiers from the Al-Qaeda affiliated Nusra Front. Al-Dulaimi reportedly plans to move to Turkey.”