The Irish national and former soldier, Lisa Smith, has been found guilty by the Special Criminal Court in Dublin, of joining Islamic State (IS). Smith left Dundalk in 2015, bound for Syria. On her return to Ireland in 2019 she was charged with membership of an unlawful terrorist group and financing terrorism. She was found guilty of the first charge but not guilty of the second. Smith now awaits sentencing.
Like thousands of women and girls around the world, Smith travelled to Syria to live in the IS caliphate. She married a British jihadi and gave birth to their child in Raqqa. As IS fell, she and her two-year-old daughter fled to the camps controlled by Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) in northern Syria.
Following attacks on the camps in 2019, Smith and her daughter were detained by Turkey, then deported back to Ireland. She was arrested at Dublin airport.
