From the Irish Times
A former member of the Irish Defence Forces who became a so-called Islamic State bride in Syria has been arrested on suspicion of terror offences after arriving back in Ireland.
Lisa Smith (38) once accompanied former president Mary Robinson and then-taoiseach Bertie Ahern on foreign trips as a member of the military but went to the war-torn Middle Eastern country in 2015 after converting to Islam and becoming radicalised.
Ms Smith had been living with her two-year-old daughter in a Syrian refugee camp. The child is being cared for by her family in Ireland while her mother is questioned at a Dublin police station.
Ms Smith was deported from Turkey and put on the first scheduled Turkish Airlines flight to Ireland, which landed shortly before 10.30am on Sunday.
Ms Smith has denied being involved in violence.
RTÉ said she was accompanied by three consular officials from the Department of Foreign Affairs, members of the Army Ranger Wing, and a Turkish security officer on the flight.
She was not in custody for the four-and-a-half-hour journey but gardaí were waiting at Dublin Airport for the plane’s arrival. . . She was transported in a dark-coloured van to Kevin Street Garda station.
Her daughter was born in Syria but is an Irish citizen. Ms Smith is originally from Dundalk, Co Louth. She has said the father of her child was a suspected IS member who died last year.
Ms Smith held a relatively lowly role in the Defence Forces but worked on the official Irish government jet. Taoiseach Leo Varadkar said Ms Smith should have the right of return to Ireland and that removing her citizenship would not be right or compassionate.
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One Response
It is reasonable to suspect that a former Irish soldier, male or female, engaged in pro-ISIS activities was an ISIS soldier and probably committed atrocities against civilians in Iraq and Syria. I think that Taoiseach Leo Varadkar’s compassion for Ms Smith is misplaced.