Ireland: White Woman Soldier Gets 15 Months in Jail for Joining ISIS

Interview from 2019

How’s that “women in the military” thing working out?

Pretty good?

Nice to hear. I’m glad. Putting women in the military always seemed like real common sense.

BBC:

A former Irish Defence Forces soldier who was found guilty of Islamic State (IS) membership has been given a 15-month prison sentence.

Lisa Smith, 40, was found guilty in May of being a member of the group between 28 October 2015 and 1 December 2019.

The court found her not guilty of financing terrorism by sending money to a man for the benefit the terrorist group.

Picture from when she was cosplaying as a soldier

She was sentenced at the Special Criminal Court in Dublin.

The judge, Mr Justice Hunt, said it was serious for any Irish citizen and a former member of the defence forces to pledge allegiance to a foreign terrorist organisation.

He said there was no doubt that she knew what she was doing.

But he said he and the court took into account her previous good behaviour and that she had a hard time in Syria and suffered from domestic violence.

However he added that was a result of her decision to travel there.

He said Smith may have been easily led but she displayed characteristics of resilience by staying in Syria until the bitter end.

‘Devoted mother’

Mr Justice Hunt said he accepted that her circumstances had since changed and she was a devoted mother to her daughter to whom she was deeply attached.

He said there was no reason to believe she would be a source of future danger.

Smith had converted to Islam and travelled to Syria after terrorist leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi called on Muslims to join IS.

The three judge non-jury Special Criminal Court was told at her earlier sentence hearing that Smith was vulnerable, dependent, docile, self-effacing and suffering mental health issues as well as post-traumatic stress disorder.

She wept in court during an earlier hearing as her lawyer pleaded mitigation on her behalf.

Referring to three psychologists’ reports, he said “on a scale of grimness of one to five” Smith’s childhood and family background was “four”.

She witnessed “destructive behaviour” and was “in the midst of a mental health crisis”.

He also outlined to the court the violent and abusive nature of her marriage in Syria.

Mr O’Higgins said “there was shouting and bullying”, she was “battered black and blue”, pushed, slapped with “an open hand to face, hit with fists, her nose was damaged and she sustained black eyes”.

“Your honor, when my client joined this terrorist group, she had no idea they were violent.”

It’s almost not even the stupid bitch’s fault. Of course she’s going to get all tingly-feely around a bunch of savage men, and of course she’s not going to be able to think through the consequences of the decision.

But of course, you can’t say that anymore. Feminism means that we have to assume women have the same faculties as men, and therefore should be held to the same standards of behavior as men.

“Your honor, my client is a stupid bitch and a horny slut – she just can’t help herself” would be a much better argument, and people would be a lot more sympathetic.

Just what we needed…