If a nation had a citizen who had denounced their original citizenship and then gone on to commit serious offences overseas, such as murder, do you believe that a sensible country would allow that person back just because they promised they ‘wouldn’t kill anyone’? The answer is of course not. The criminal in question should have no right to return, especially if they’ve renounced their citizenship.
Unfortunately it is a variation of this scenario that is playing out in the Irish Republic at the moment. The Irish Government are using military force in order to bring back a convert to Islam, Lisa Smith, who left Ireland in order to join the ISIS terror group three years ago.
Smith who married a ‘British’ Jihadi who was later killed whilst fighting for ISIS, has pleaded with the Irish Government to let her back in to Ireland, at one point promising ‘not to kill anyone’. Smith is said to have not taken part in any ISIS atrocities or actively fought for the terror group, but she is alleged to have taken part in training ISIS women in military tactics. Smith was an integral part of the ISIS governing apparatus not just a naive bystander. Because of that she should be given two options. These are that she either face trial and long term incarceration or she should be left to rot in whatever skany refugee camp she has ended up in. Bringing this woman back to Ireland and just letting her loose, will do no good at all for the Irish people.
According to the Sun newspaper, which has reported the start of a military operation to collect Smith, the jihadi bride, Smith doesn’t even seem to fully condemn ISIS. For her it was just ‘an Islamic state that failed’ which suggests that she does view ISIS as a state and a state that she has pledged alleigence towards.
The Sun said that Smith told a BBC interviewer a few months ago:
“I don’t even think I’m radicalised, you know?
“All I know is I just came to an Islamic State and it failed.
There are aspects of the Smith case that are remarkably similar to the Shamina Begum case. The most noteable similarity is the nonchalent view of life under ISIS. Begum was unfazed by the sight of buckets of severed human heads and Smith saw herself under ISIS as just a normal Muslim living in an Islamic state.
I do hope that the military operation to ‘rescue’ Smith does not cost the lives of Irish soldiers. It would be both a personal, moral and political tragedy if Irish troops lose their lives whilst collecting this worthless piece of crap called Lisa Smith.
