Lisa Smith has been found guilty of being a member of the terror group ISIS.
The former Irish Defence Forces soldier was cleared of a separate charge of financing terrorism.
Former Irish soldier Lisa Smith has been found GUILTY of being a member of the terror group ISIS between October 2015 and December 2019.
— Frank Greaney (@FrankGreaney) May 30, 2022
Former Irish soldier Lisa Smith has been found NOT guilty of financing terrorism through an attempted Western Union transfer to an ISIS fighter in 2015.
Decision on whether she was a member of the terrorist organisation between Oct 2015 and Dec 2019 expected within the hour.
— Frank Greaney (@FrankGreaney) May 30, 2022
It took an hour and a half to deliver the court’s judgement after what was a lengthy trial.
In the end, 40-year-old Lisa Smith was acquitted of funding terrorism through an attempted Western Union transfer to an ISIS fighter, but found guilty of being a member of the terror group from the moment she entered Syria in 2015 to the end of 2019.
The former soldier had consistently denied the charges and applied to the court to have them dropped after the trial ended back in March.
After converting to Islam and leaving the army, she claimed she was answering a religious call to live under Sharia law in an Islamic State.
But the judges didn’t believe her decision to go there was solely based on a sense of religious duty.
After considering extensive online chats she had with other ISIS members, they concluded that, “her eyes were wide open,” when she went there and they found nothing to suggest that she ceased adherence thereafter.
Smith is due to be sentenced in July 11th and will remain on bail until that date.
