The British ex-wife of a prominent American ISIS commander has shocked TV viewers by insisting her former husband had a "good side" in an interview.
In an interview with Piers Morgan and Susanna Reid on Good Morning Britain, Tania Joya, 33, from Harrow, said she still loves John Georgelas, the highest-ranking American in the terror group.
She said he gave her "four beautiful, lovely children", and insisted "everybody has their ups and downs".
Morgan responded to her comments: "You know what, I'm afraid ISIS terrorists don't have a good side so I'm afraid we're going to end the interview right there."
Ms Joya married US-born Georgelas, known after his conversion to Islam as Yahya al-Bahrumi, in 2003 after the couple met online.
They moved to Syria together in September 2013, after Georgelas was released from jail where he served a sentence for giving IT help to extremist websites.
Ms Joya begged to be smuggled out to Turkey just weeks after arriving in Azaz.
She travelled onwards to Texas, divorced her husband, and now describes herself as a former extremist.
When presenter Susanna Reid asked her if she still loved her ex, Ms Joya responded: "I don’t love him like I’m in love with him, I love him because he gave me four beautiful children.
"I love him like I love people. He was my best friend. Everybody has their ups and downs, everybody has a good side, everybody has a bad side."
During that part of the interview, both presenters shook their head and Morgan said he couldn't understand why she should not be considered a "potentially dangerous person".
Ms Joya had earlier told how she drifted into radical Islam, becoming a "blind follower" because "I was afraid I would become a disbeliever".
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The former jihadi bride said she no longer believes in the Koran, which she called "a terrible book", and wants to help stop others being radicalised.
Trying to explain why she pursued Islam to such extremes, she said: "Even when I was a child I wanted to grow up and be a good English woman but that was seen as Haram [forbidden by Islamic law] because anything Western is Haram and then we're pushed to have a lot of guilt every time we try to assimilate to Western society. We are shamed for it and then we think God hates us."
She added: "Yes I was an extremist. I was one of them and I am a former extremist. I understand the minds of extremists and I understand how to deradicalise too. I can help these people. Just like they get indoctrinated you can get undoctrinated.
"It just takes some re-education and a little bit of empathy goes a long way."
Georgelas remains in Syria where he has since climbed higher in the ranks of ISIS.
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