Organisation: Islamic State

A COMPREHENSIVE SERIES OF ARTICLES ON THIS TOPIC

<p>Sentencing her to 15 months in prison, Mr Justice Tony Hunt noted in October 2022 that while Lisa Smith (pictured) is a low risk for re-offending, she was persistent and determined in her efforts to travel to Syria and join Isis and has shown no remorse for her actions. File picture: PA</p>

court and crime

Lisa Smith to file submissions to appeal her conviction for Isis membership shortly, court told

In 2022, Smith became the first person to be convicted in an Irish court of an Islamic terrorist offence committed abroad

<p>Police officers walk near the Basmanny District Court in Moscow, Russia, Sunday, March 24, 2024. Picture: AP Photo/Alexander Zemlianichenko</p>

world

New Islamic State videos back claim it carried out Moscow concert hall attack

<p>Investigators from the Investigative Committee of Russia examine the burned concert hall after an attack on the building of the Crocus City Hall on the western edge of Moscow, Russia. (Investigative Committee of Russia via AP)</p>

world

Putin says all four Moscow attack gunmen held as death toll reaches 133

world

Putin vows to punish those behind Russia concert massacre

S spotlight

Michael McElgunn — The man leading the battle to keep Ireland safe

comment-analysis

Carl Bildt: Niger coup could facilitate extreme jihadists in West Africa

Court refuses Lisa Smith bail application but agrees to hear sentence appeal in October

While Smith intends to appeal her conviction, Mr Justice Birmingham said the court would be willing to hear the sentence appeal before the conviction appeal

Wed, 27 Jul, 2022

Lisa Smith weeps as she gets 15 months for Islamic State membership

Mr Justice Tony Hunt, delivering the court's verdict, said that she went to Syria with her "eyes wide open" having watched videos of Isis atrocities

Fri, 22 Jul, 2022

Lisa Smith found guilty of being a member of terrorist organisation Isis

The judge noted that religion is "irrelevant to membership of Isis" as a person would not gain immunity for a crime because he believed he had a religious obligation to persecute witches.

Mon, 30 May, 2022

Lisa Smith's lawyers make fresh bid to have charges against her dismissed

Previous judgment of the High Court ruled that the Terrorism Offences Act 2005 can only be used to prosecute people for offences committed against the Irish State or Irish citizens abroad and therefore has no jurisdiction to try Ms Smith, court told

Thu, 07 Apr, 2022

Irish Examiner View: Elsheikh hearings will expand knowledge of Islamic State

El Shafee Elsheikh faces charges in a US federal court because of his role in the deaths of four Americans reporting on, or helping the victims of, the Syrian civil war.

Mon, 04 Apr, 2022

Prosecution evidence 'falls short', barrister tells Lisa Smith trial

Lisa Smith's defence barrister disputed the evidence from Dr Gaub, a social scientist and expert on Middle Eastern conflicts

Wed, 30 Mar, 2022

Barrister tells trial Lisa Smith chose to go to area controlled by 'demonic' terrorists

Ms Smith's defence counsel told the court that she did not travel to Syria to take part in combat. She was vulnerable, brittle, suicidal and depressed

Tue, 29 Mar, 2022

Islamic State provided simple answers to life's questions, historian tells Lisa Smith trial

The court heard there were many Islamic scholars who denounced terrorist leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, but there were other "respected voices" who saw his caliphate as legitimate

Mon, 28 Mar, 2022

'Sufficient evidence' to consider whether Lisa Smith was member of Isis, court rules

Ms Smith's lawyers had applied to the court to direct not-guilty verdicts on the grounds there is no evidence to support the prosecution case and that to even consider a verdict would be unfair and could lead to a miscarriage of justice

Thu, 24 Mar, 2022

Lisa Smith said of terrorist leader: 'At least Abu Bakr did something while the rest of us just sit and talk', trial hears

Special Criminal Court trial has been listening to private Facebook messages Ms Smith exchanged with other Muslims before she travelled to Syria in 2015

Tue, 15 Mar, 2022

Lisa Smith lawyers waving Data Protection Act like 'garlic at a vampire,' says barrister

Counsel for the State said the right to privacy is not absolute and a breach of a person's right to privacy does not mean the evidence gleaned must be excluded

Thu, 03 Mar, 2022

Lisa Smith's lawyers tell trial Facebook involved in 'wholesale breach of privacy rights'

Counsel said it is the court's job to protect people's rights when there is a "corporation out there recording every utterance from 'Happy Birthday' up"

Wed, 02 Mar, 2022

Lawyers object to evidence of Lisa Smith's alleged contact with convicted terrorists

Ms Smith is believed to have been in contact with John Georgelas and Robert Edward Cerantonio

Tue, 01 Mar, 2022

Lisa Smith told fellow soldier 'we are being controlled by a shower of b*****ds', court hears

The court also heard she was promoting Islam as "the way forward" to a fellow soldier

Mon, 28 Feb, 2022

Mick Clifford: Long before the bombs started falling, truth had perished in the war of words

The first casualty of war is truth. Behind the troops invading Ukraine are armies of online trolls as well as the big gun of Vladimir Putin’s rambling conspiracy theories, writes Mick Clifford

Sat, 26 Feb, 2022

Judges watch videos of Lisa Smith's Garda interviews as trial resumes

The trial is in legal argument regarding mutual assistance requests made by gardaí investigating the allegations against Ms Smith to the authorities in America and Australia

Fri, 25 Feb, 2022

'Medical difficulty' delays Lisa Smith trial by a week

The trial continues next Tuesday

Wed, 16 Feb, 2022

Local media comments had sparked Garda concerns for Lisa Smith's safety in Ireland

The court also heard of voice messages and texts she sent to her family while she was being held in the Ain Issa camp in Syria in mid-2019

Tue, 15 Feb, 2022

Lisa Smith saw dead man on a cross with his eyes gouged out, court told

She accepted that there were "bad things happening" but she said "you would have to be a Muslim to understand"

Mon, 14 Feb, 2022

Lisa Smith watched video of Islamic State drowning men in cage before going to Syria

After watching the video, Ms Smith posted a message to a WhatsApp group saying: 'Now I understand why they were drowned. I didn't know the other half of the story,' the Special Criminal Court has heard

Tue, 08 Feb, 2022

Lisa Smith said witness is 'selfish jihadi' and another 'lied about many things', trial hears

Ms Smith denied to the court that she has extremist views and said if she had extremist views before, she doesn't now

Mon, 07 Feb, 2022

Lisa Smith went to Islamic State to get away from 'alcohol, prostitution and gay people'

The court heard that Lisa Smith had been imprisoned for five months with 50 to 60 other women in a single house in Syria.

Thu, 03 Feb, 2022

'Fear of hellfire' spurred Lisa Smith to join caliphate, court told

She said she would not go again if another caliphate were announced, adding: "It was four years in prison, that's the way we look at it now."

Wed, 02 Feb, 2022

Lisa Smith's lawyers challenge the legality of her arrest

Her defence solicitor said that the Act Ms Smith was arrested under has no provision for offences alleged to have taken place outside of Ireland

Mon, 31 Jan, 2022

Islamic State propagandist had proposed to Lisa Smith in Syria, court told

Witness Tanya Joya told the court Lisa Smith said she wanted to use her army training to fight in Syria

Fri, 28 Jan, 2022

Court hears of Lisa Smith's marriage to al Qaeda member in Syria

Tanya Joya said Ms Smith was "brainwashed into thinking if you became a martyr you get to go to paradise."

Thu, 27 Jan, 2022

'Naive' Lisa Smith tried to justify suicide bombings, trial told

A witness told the court Lisa Smith’s interest in Islam was “more political, not so much Islamic”

Wed, 26 Jan, 2022

Lisa Smith wanted to 'die a martyr' for Islamic State, trial told

The trial against the 39-year-old Dundalk woman, who is a former member of the Defence Forces, is now underway

Tue, 25 Jan, 2022

24,000 money laundering and terror financing cases in 2018

Figures from the Department of Justice show a total of 23,939 reports of suspicious financial transactions were made to gardaí in 2018 — a decrease of almost 2% on the previous year.

Sun, 01 Mar, 2020

20 killed in stampede at Niger refugee camp

15 women along with five children were killed and a further 16 people were injured.

Tue, 18 Feb, 2020

Battlefield barbarism let loose: Savagery ofthe darkest kind

Just before Christmas President Trump intervened in a case involving a Navy SEAL and Navy authorities who wanted to sanction the soldier.

Fri, 17 Jan, 2020

Verona Murphy to announce on Tuesday if she will run in General Election

Former Fine Gael by-election Verona Murphy is to announce on Tuesday whether she will run as an Independent candidate in Wexford in the upcoming General Election.

Mon, 13 Jan, 2020

US-Iran crisis escalates - Trump’s gift to Tehran — a martyr

There must — mustn’t there? — have been someone in the room who asked questions when the US president, Donald Trump, and his advisors met to discuss the proposal to kill Iran’s General Qassem Soleimani.

Mon, 06 Jan, 2020

The Verona Murphy fiasco - Don’t shut down debate

Those who see the Taoiseach as a politician with a tendency to make stuff up as he goes along could do worse than point to his responses before and after the Wexford by-election, now notorious for Verona Murphy’s remarks about migrants.

Mon, 23 Dec, 2019

‘Silenced’ Verona Murphy may run as Independent candidate

Verona Murphy has signalled that she may run as an Independent candidate in Wexford in the general election after being dropped by Fine Gael.

Fri, 20 Dec, 2019

Lisa Smith's bail conditions include curfew and an internet ban

Former Irish Defence Forces soldier Lisa Smith, who is facing trial accused of ISIS membership, has been granted bail with strict conditions including an internet and social media ban.

Thu, 19 Dec, 2019

DPP considers evidence in Lisa Smith case

The Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) was last night weighing up whether there is enough evidence to give the green light to charge returned alleged Islamic State supporter Lisa Smith.

Wed, 04 Dec, 2019

Gardaí studying statements by returned Islamic State supporter Lisa Smith

Ms Smith was arrested just before 11am on Sunday after she was flown from Turkey along with her two-year-old daughter.

Mon, 02 Dec, 2019

Lisa Smith’s repatriation: Deprivation of citizenship a mistake

It was right and proper that Lisa Smith and her daughter be brought back to Ireland as Irish citizens and treated in a humane manner.

Mon, 02 Dec, 2019

Lisa Smith returns: Foreign agencies’ work forms key evidence

Intelligence gathered by foreign security services on returned Islamic State supporter Lisa Smith is a key part of evidence being put to the Dundalk woman in questioning.

Mon, 02 Dec, 2019

Simon Coveney plays down reports that Lisa Smith due home in coming days

The 38-year-old Dundalk woman travelled to Syria in 2016 to join the so-called Islamic State group.

Sat, 30 Nov, 2019

Gardaí have duty to ensure safety of Lisa Smith, says Garda boss

Gardaí have a duty to protect jihadist supporter Lisa Smith and her family just like any other citizen, commissioner Drew Harris has said.

Fri, 29 Nov, 2019

Alison O'Connor: Is Fine Gael standing by its candidate or just standing by?

The Taoiseach canvassing alongside a woman who has made the remarks Verona Murphy has gives a certain imprimatur to her, writes Alison O'Connor

Thu, 28 Nov, 2019

David Lewis and Ryan McNeill: Extremist groups strike gold in Africa’s Sahel

For Islamic extremists, African gold mines are a treasure trove both of explosives and funds to recruit new members and buy arms, writes David Lewis and Ryan McNeill

Mon, 25 Nov, 2019