Court of Appeal upholds Lisa Smith’s conviction for Islamic State membership

The Court of Appeal has upheld former soldier Lisa Smith’s conviction for membership of the terrorist group Islamic State.Delivering judgment on Tuesday morning on behalf of the three-judge court, Judge John Edwards said there was no doubt the circumstances of Smith’s voluntary travel to Islamic State-controlled territory were “properly to be regarded as being capable of constituting sufficient acts of participation”.“The establishment of membership did not require proof of combat, military activity or operational acts such as fundraising, training or dissemination of propaganda,” he said.The court rejected all grounds raised by Smith and her appeal was therefore dismissed.READ MOREIn 2022, Smith (44) became the first person to be convicted in an Irish court of an Islamic terrorist offence committed abroad when the three-judge, non-jury Special Criminal Court found she joined Islamic State, also known as Isis, when she travelled to Syria in 2015.Smith, from Dundalk, Co Louth, had pleaded not guilty to membership of the unlawful terrorist group between October 28th, 2015, and December 1st, 2019.Smith appealed her conviction after her bid to overturn her 15-month sentence was rejected by the Court of Appeal in 2023.At her conviction appeal hearing last year, her senior counsel, Michael O’Higgins, argued Smith had travelled to Syria through “a religious obligation” and had not carried out any acts as a member of Islamic State.