Smith spent her time in the mosque justifying suicide bombs
Irish Daily Mirror|January 27, 2022
Court told accused spoke of militant Islam
EOIN REYNOLDS
Smith spent her time in the mosque justifying suicide  bombs

LISA Smith was interested in the "harsh end of Islam" and tried to justify suicide bombs, a court heard yesterday.

The former Defence Forces soldier denies membership of the illegal organisation Islamic State and of providing funds to benefit the group.

Carol “Karimah” Duffy, of the Dundalk Muslim Community Mosque told the Special Criminal Court that Smith, 39, often discussed jihad or holy war.

In evidence, she added the defendant was "justifying why suicide bombs were happening”, giving the view that “we were being attacked, so we were attacking back”.

Ms Duffy told the judges Smith wanted to find a husband who would die 'shahid as a Muslim martyr.

The court was told she asked the accused to come to classes to learn from the Koran, the hadiths and the sunnah, but she said Smith did not come to the tutorials often.

She added: “The parts that interested her were not so much Islamic but more political, politicised Islam.

"What we should be wearing, saying, doing, who we should be interacting with, more the harsh end of Islam.

The witness said Smith made other women in the mosque feel uncomfortable to such an extent some of them thought she was a "plant".

Ms Duffy added: “I was trying to teach her the fundamentals of Islam, but it go very well. When she came the women didn't take very well to her." She also testified Smith was "naive” because instead of studying, she “blindly followed what was said on the internet".

This story is from the January 27, 2022 edition of Irish Daily Mirror.

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This story is from the January 27, 2022 edition of Irish Daily Mirror.

Start your 7-day Magzter GOLD free trial to access thousands of curated premium stories, and 8,500+ magazines and newspapers.