Posted by Former Defence Forces member Lisa Smith sent forward for trial to Special Criminal Court
Smith is accused of membership of the terror group Islamic State.
FORMER DEFENCE FORCES member Lisa Smith has been sent forward for trial to the Special Criminal Court accused of membership of the Islamic State radical terrorist group.
The Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) directed trial in the non-jury court which is used for terrorism related and organised crime trials.
The DPP has obtained a certificate, under the Offences Against the State Act that, in this case, the ordinary courts were inadequate to secure the administration of justice. The certificate was furnished to Judge Marie Quirke at Dublin District Court today.
The Attorney General agreed with the decision in relation to the trial venue, Judge Quirke noted.
A State solicitor asked Judge Quirke to make an order of return for trial to a sitting of a Special Criminal Court. Bail terms had been agreed.
Some exhibits have been kept on a USB memory stick which has been handed over to the defence.
Lisa Smith, a 38-year-old mother of one, from Co Louth, has indicated through her solicitor that she will challenge the decision by the DPP that she cannot have a jury trial.
She had initially been charged in December with an offence contrary to the Criminal Justice (Terrorist Offences) which carries a possible ten-year sentence, for being a member of jihadist group Islamic State (IS) from 2015 to 2019.
Last week, a further charge was bRought under the same legislation for financing terrorism with €800 in assistance, via a Western Union money transfer, to a named man on 6 May in 2015.
Special Detective Unit (SDU) Sergeant Gareth Kane served the book of evidence on Smith when she appeared at Dublin District Court today.
She stood at the side of the courtroom and spoke only to her solicitor.
Judge Quirke told her that if she intended to use an alibi evidence in her defence she must inform the DPP within 14 days. She explained the meaning of alibi to Smith and also told her she must notify of any witnesses she may call.
Smith nodded to indicate she understood.
Her surety, who had to lodge €1,000 cash of bail set at €5,000, confirmed he would continue to stand bail. He cannot be named by court order following a request from Smith’s solicitor.
Smith must continue obeying bail conditions including an internet and social media ban.
A date has yet to be set for her appearance in the Special Criminal Court.
Legal aid was granted for her trial to include representation of senior and junior counsel.
Defence solicitor Peter Corrigan said earlier that Ms Smith was anxious to prove her innocence.
Today, he received the Attorney General’s certificate about the trial venue and he told Judge Quirke that here will be a challenge. “The current evidence points to her never being part of any illegal groups and it was solely for religious purposes”, he said.
Judge Quirke told him she noted his position and she made the return for trial order having noted documents had been served on the accused.
Smith joined the Defence Forces after leaving school in 2000 and also served with the Air Corps on the government jet.
After converting to Islam she left Ireland in 2015. A caliphate – a state governed in accordance with Islamic law, or Sharia – had been declared and IS seized large swathes of territory in Syria and Iraq.
She was brought back to Ireland on 1 December when she was arrested. It followed a trek from war-torn Syria to Turkey with her two-year-old daughter.
Lisa Smith was questioned for three days before she was charged. After a four-week stint in custody on remand, she was released on High Court bail with a list of strict conditions including an internet and social media ban.
She had to lodge €500. A further €1,000 out of €5,000 independent surety had to be paid. The media cannot report her address but is allowed say she is living in the north east of the country.
She was refused bail on 4 December when she first appeared at Dublin District Court, three days after she returned to Ireland. At that hearing, her solicitor had pleaded for bail telling the district court his client had come back to Ireland after walking with her toddler daughter, “through bombs, poverty, and cesspit camps, and desert, to come to her country of origin”.
A fresh bail application in the High Court on 19 December was successful and she was released 12 days later.
She must reside at an address in the north east and sign on at a Garda station twice daily, obey an 8pm to 7am. She cannot leave the jurisdiction or apply for new travel documentation, having already lost her passport.
She had to provide gardai with a contact mobile phone number and has been warned she must answer it if rung by gardai. Failing to do so would be a breach of bail.
Smith has also been banned from using the internet or using any social media and she must not have contact with any non-Garda witnesses in the case.
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Shamima Begum: Female Isis members being ‘underestimated’ because of gender stereotypes, UN warns
Women who join Isis are being “underestimated” by international security services because of gender stereotypes, the United Nations has warned.
The head of its Counter-Terrorism Committee Executive Directorate (CTED) told The Independent there were a “range of different biases in investigations, charging, sentencing and the provision of rehabilitation and reintegration support”.
Executive director Michele Coninsx would not comment directly on the Shamima Begum case, but said that governments should “steer away from politicising and sensationalising women’s roles in terrorism”.
Begum, who left the UK to join Isis in Syria when she was 15, is attempting to return to Britain for a legal battle over her citizenship.
“International law states that no individual should be rendered stateless,” she added.
The issue is at the core of Begum’s legal battle, with the government claiming it acted legally because she is eligible for Bangladeshi citizenship but the Dhaka government saying there was “no question“ of her being allowed into the country.
In Britain, the debate over the case has been polarised between people viewing Begum as a “groomed” victim and a security threat.
Ministers previously claimed that Begum’s citizenship – and that of other British Isis members – was removed because it would be difficult to prosecute her for substantial terror offences in the UK.
Ms Coninsx said all jurisdictions examined for a CTED report released in July “face challenges” with female Isis returnees.
She added: “We must aim to ensure that all states have in place tailored, case-by-case and gender-sensitive criminal justice responses which take seriously the different roles that women can play in terrorist groups, including violent roles, as well as take into account any mitigating circumstances, for example where they were brought to Isis under duress.”
Begum is among dozens of British women and children being held in Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) camps after fleeing Isis’s last territory.
The SDF has repeatedly called for foreign detainees to be repatriated to their countries of origin, but the British government has so far refused.
Only a tiny fraction of an estimated 4,700 female foreign Isis members have returned to their home countries compared to their male counterparts, with potential reasons including their inability to travel without a male guardian.
“While there is a growing awareness among policy-makers and practitioners that more attention must be paid to women in a counter-terrorism context, gender biases unfortunately continue to persisted,” she said.
“It is important to stress that this doesn’t only mean that some continue to underestimate the threat posed by women, but that the complex realities of how and why women become associated with terrorism defy simple solutions and require nuanced approaches.”
The CTED report said women can hold “simultaneous roles as supporters and victims” of Isis. It added that women who joined the self-declared “caliphate” in Syria and Iraq had supported and facilitated war crimes and terror attacks.
“Member states take different approaches to risk assessments and criminal investigations of women returnees – some states routinely investigate all returnees, regardless of gender, some do so on a case-by-case basis and some do not investigate women, based on the assumptions that they are ‘victims’.”
The CTED called for all countries to attempt a “nuanced understanding” of women’s roles and motivations in Isis, while balancing the risk they pose with mitigating circumstances.
