Lisa Smith

Former Irish soldier Lisa Smith has been sentenced to 15 months in prison for being a member of the so-called Islamic State (IS) terror group.

He said the judges had accepted that life in the Syrian camps was “arduous” and the “equivalent” of being in prison, and that they had given a “substantial” discount off Smith’s sentence because of this. Michael O’Higgins SC told the court that the state of Smith’s marriage to a man, who the prosecution has claimed was a member of IS, while in Syria was “a very relevant factor in mitigation”. The judge added that she had had a “tough time in Syria” but that it was a “foreseeable consequence” of joining IS. Describing the trial as “novel”, he added: “There is no basis that she is a source of present danger.” The judge said he is satisfied that she is not likely to reoffend and that her focus is now on her daughter. He said the judges in the case had taken into consideration Smith’s previous “good character” and the fact that she had made a “positive contribution to society during her military service”.

Former Irish soldier Lisa Smith has been sentenced to 15 months in prison at the Special Criminal Court for membership of ISIS, the Islamic State terrorist ...

He also said the matter was now one for the Court of Appeal to look at transcript and that it has jurisdiction to grant bail. Mr Justice Hunt said the court had "considered the application" and there was "no basis for the application". The 40-year-old mother-of-one is the first person to be convicted in an Irish court of membership in another country of an Islamic terrorist organisation.

The 40-year-old, a former member of the Irish Defence Forces, was found guilty in May after a nine-week trial at the non-jury Special Criminal Court in ...

Read more: Former Irish soldier convicted of being Islamic State member IS bride Lisa Smith arrested in Dublin after being deported from Turkey Lisa Smith: Alleged Islamic State member and Irish ex-soldier encouraged British husband to take snipers course, court told Smith had a daughter, born in June 2017, before she returned to Ireland in December 2019 after the collapse of Islamic State. Smith, who gave birth to a daughter in Islamic State territory, bought a one-way ticket from Dublin to Turkey and crossed the border into an IS-controlled area of Syria in 2015.

The former Irish soldier was convicted of the charge earlier this year following what was described as a “novel and complex” trial before the non-jury Special ...

Smith is the first person to be prosecuted for and convicted of being a member of a terror organisation in a foreign land. Lisa Smith (40) jailed for 15 months for being a member of ISIS. Lisa Smith has been jailed for 15 months for being a member of ISIS.

FORMER Irish soldier and Islamic convert Lisa Smith has been jailed for 15 months for membership of ISIS.

This included her husband, Aslam, who was a fighter for the group. The court also noted there was an absence of remorse. Smith said in interview with an expert that she “wouldn't be in a hurry to run back to any Islamic State”, and that her life was “handed over” to IS propagandist Georgelas. He also said that Smith was afraid of hell and the fires of damnation and “wanted to be the best Muslim she could be". Smith was a “very damaged” and “vulnerable person” and was “looking for answers” when she came to Islam and saw it as an “attractive proposal”, Mr O’Higgins said. She had a “very difficult and hard time” in Syria before her repatriation, although this was “primarily a foreseeable consequence” of her decision to “attach herself to the Islamic State”. Smith's defence was that she travelled to IS territory as part of a religious obligation, that she did not aid the terror group, never even picked up a weapon, and was “led astray” as to what IS stood for. The court was satisfied the threshold for a prison sentence had been reached and Judge Hunt said it should not be longer than necessary to “underline the gravity of the offence” and deter others. The court noted that Smith was of previous good character, had no previous convictions and made a positive contribution to society in her military service. It was nonetheless serious for an Irish citizen and former member of the Defence Forces “to take up allegiance to a terrorist organisation” and persist with that allegiance. Judge Hunt said there was nothing beyond “justifiable suspicion” of the precise nature of Smith's activities in Syria. The court was bound to act on the facts, he said. The court determined that the case was in the lower part of the spectrum but in the upper-end of that category.

In just a few hours, the Special Criminal Court will pass sentence on Lisa Smith for being a member of ISIS between 2015 and 2019.

The mother-of-one was in tears as she was being led away to begin her sentence. Mr Justice Hunt said there was insufficient evidence to justify a fully suspended sentence and he also refused to allow her remain on bail until she appeals her sentence. Despite being convicted of a crime that could have seen her spend up to eight years in prison, Lisa Smith was allowed to remain on bail until today but at her sentence hearing a few weeks ago, Mr Justice Tony Hunt told her not to take any 'false comfort' from the fact she wasn’t taken into custody.

Lisa Smith, a former Irish soldier who travelled to Syria to join Isis in 2014, has been jailed for 15 months by the Special Criminal Court.

Smith was convicted by the three-judge, non-jury court of membership of Isis following a trial earlier this year. She accepted that she travelled to Isis-controlled Syria in 2014 but denied that she had ever joined Isis or any other group. Lisa Smith, a former Irish soldier who travelled to Syria to join Isis in 2014, has been jailed for 15 months by the Special Criminal Court.

She was granted bail ahead of sentencing. Smith, a convert to Islam, went to Syria in 2015 after terrorist leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi called on Muslims to ...

The judge said he is satisfied that she is not likely to reoffend and that her focus is now on her daughter. He also said she had had a “tough time in Syria” but that it was a “foreseeable consequence” of joining IS. But he said the judges in the case had taken into consideration her previous “good character” and the fact that she had made a “contribution to society” during her military service.