ISIS bride Lisa Smith wins right to enter UK

An Irish soldier who joined ISIS and fled to Syria to become the second wife of a British jihadi has today won a court case fighting her exclusion from the UK.

Lisa Smith, from County Louth, was charged with membership of an unlawful organisation under 2005 terror legislation last year.

The 38-year-old was a member of the Irish Defence forces for years but converted to Islam following the breakdown of her marriage and flew to Syria to join ISIS. 

There, she allegedly became the second wife of British jihadist Sajid Aslam and had a child with him. She returned to Ireland in 2019 after being housed in a refugee camp. 

In 2019, Smith was served with a notice by the Home Secretary to exclude her from the UK on the grounds of national security. 

Smith appealed against the decision to the Special Immigration Appeals Commission (SIAC) in London, arguing that she had close family connections to the North of Ireland and often travelled across the border for a variety of reasons.  

The SIAC today ruled in Smith’s favour and allowed her appeal.   

Smith was arrested at Dublin Airport in 2019 on suspicion of terrorist offences after returning from Turkey in November with her young daughter.

She had travelled to Syria a number of years ago after she converted to Islam.

The alleged member of so-called Islamic State is also facing an additional charge of terrorist financing, the court heard today. 

This relates to an alleged offence within the Irish state in 2015 in the sum of 800 euros.  

She argued that she had close family connections to Ireland and her father was born in Belfast, but the Home Office argued that because her parents were not married when she was born she was not a British national. 

But the SIAC today ruled in Smith’s favour and allowed her appeal. The SIAC said the decision to exclude Smith was ‘discriminatory’.

Darragh Mackin, her solicitor, said the ruling was ‘significant for the Good Friday Agreement.’ 

He said today: ‘Today’s ruling is hugely significant for the upholding of basic human rights principles which include the right to be free from discrimination. The decision to exclude our client was discriminatory and contrary to the basic principles underpinning the Good Friday Agreement.

As an Irish citizen who resides in a border town, it was always asserted that to restrict her from travelling across the border was unlawful and could not be stood over. We warmly welcome the Court’s determination today which will now reinstate our client’s basic rights to travel to the North of Ireland at her convenience.’

She denies the allegations and is claiming that she went to live in the declared Islamic State just to learn teachings of the Quran. 

Ms Smith had been living with her two-year-old daughter in a Syrian refugee camp; she is being cared for by her family in Ireland. 

She has said the father of her child was a suspected member of IS who died in 2019.  

Ms Smith held a relatively lowly role in the Defence Forces but worked on the official Irish Government jet.

She accompanied former president Mary Robinson and then Taoiseach Bertie Ahern on journeys.