Courts

Lisa Smith to file submissions in her appeal against conviction for Isis membership

Former soldier first person to be convicted in Irish court of an Islamic terrorist offence committed abroad

Lisa Smith, former member of the Irish Defence Forces, converted to Islam and later travelled to Syria during the Syrian Civil War. Photograph: Alan Betson

Fiona Magennis
Mon May 13 2024 - 12:34

Former soldier Lisa Smith is expected to file submissions shortly in her appeal against her conviction for membership of the terrorist group Islamic State, a court has been told.

Smith’s case was raised briefly at the Court of Appeal on Monday morning before court President Mr Justice George Birmingham while he was dealing with a list of cases to fix dates for upcoming appeals.

A barrister for Smith told the court that the submissions have not yet been filed, but added: “They will be shortly, however the Director will need to some time to reply to them.”

Mr Justice Birmingham said he would adjourn the matter to the next list to fix dates on July 22nd.

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In 2022, Smith became the first person to be convicted in an Irish court of an Islamic terrorist offence committed abroad when the three-judge, non-jury Special Criminal Court (SCC) found that she joined Isis when she travelled to Syria in 2015.

The 42-year-old from Dundalk, Co Louth had pleaded not guilty to membership of an unlawful terrorist group, Islamic State, between October 28th, 2015 and December 1st, 2019.

Sentencing her to 15 months in prison, Mr Justice Tony Hunt noted in October 2022 that while Smith is a low risk for reoffending, she was persistent and determined in her efforts to travel to Syria and join Isis and has shown no remorse for her actions.

In March last year, the Court of Appeal rejected Smith’s bid to overturn her 15-month sentence, finding that the judges of the SCC who tried, convicted and sentenced her had shown “scrupulous fairness and appropriate regard to the evidence”.

The court dismissed all grounds of appeal relating to the sentence.

Delivering the court’s judgment, Mr Justice John Edwards said it accepted that Smith’s role with Isis in Syria was “wholly passive” but, he added: “The mere fact that she travelled to Syria, in circumstances where the evidence establishes that she travelled with her eyes open and with knowledge of what Islamic State stood for, of its methods and its brutal activities, was an overt expression of support for that organisation.”

He said the Islamic State, “challenges our fundamental democratic values, our respect for human rights and the notion of respect for the rule of law. It is not simply that its members have a different value system but that they, and the organisation of which they are a member, are subversive to our values and committed to destroying them.”

He noted the “clear evidence” of Isis “brutality, intolerance and extreme violence towards anybody who does not share their world view, including instances of torture, burnings, beheadings, crucifixions, drownings and other outrages.”

Such conduct, he said, constitutes “the most egregious crimes known to man, including crimes against humanity, war crimes, ethnic cleansing, and genocide.”

Following the judgment Ms Smith’s lawyers indicated that they want to appeal her conviction as soon as possible.

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