Former Irish soldier Lisa Smith led ‘totally anonymous’ life in Syria – lawyer

Belfast Telegraph - 10/04
Former Irish soldier Lisa Smith led a “totally anonymous” life while living in Syria and there was no “smoking gun” that she did anything for the so-called Islamic State (IS) terror group, her lawyer told a Dublin court as she appeals against her conviction for being a member of the unlawful organisation.

Smith, 43, from Dundalk in Co Louth, is outlining her case at the Court of Appeal.

The ex-Defence Forces member was found guilty of IS membership in 2023 but was cleared of financing terrorism after a nine-week trial at Dublin’s Special Criminal Court.

Former Irish soldier Lisa Smith at the Courts of Criminal Justice in Dublin in July 2022 (Brian Lawless/PA)

Smith, a convert to Islam, went to Syria in 2015 after terrorist leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi called on Muslims to travel to the country.

She had pleaded not guilty to charges of membership of IS and providing funds to benefit the group.

Smith was handed 15 months in prison and lost an appeal over the severity of the sentence.

Arguing at the Court of Appeal, her barrister Michael O’Higgins said that Smith travelled to Syria out of a religious obligation, but that the court had dismissed that as “irrelevant”.

Mr O’Higgins said the court cannot ignore and deem inadmissible what the person’s motive was to travel to Syria, adding that it was a “flaw” to assume Smith wa...
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