If she was here, we could take care of her
Heartbroken family of Isis bride in a Syria refugee camp fear for the safety of the little grandchild they have never met
THE family of Isis bride Lisa Smith have told how images of her baby daughter in a refugee camp have broken their hearts.
In an exclusive interview with the Irish Mail on Sunday, Ms Smith’s father, George, said he is ‘heartbroken’ and worried about the grandchild he’s never met. Little Rakeya, now two years old, was born in Isis territory.
‘It’s killing me knowing she’s stuck over there. It’s breaking my heart,’ the father of four told the MoS.
Lisa’s sister, Lorna, said she is frustrated by the ‘lies’ being spread about Lisa.
‘There’s been a lot of lies and, until people know the truth about Lisa and the child and her background, they can’t judge us,’ she said.
George said Lisa turned to Islam after seeing a psychiatrist in Newry.
‘You’d never see her in a bad mood. She was so happy-go-lucky. But at the end of her time in the army things changed – she made a lot of changes very quickly. She had a breakdown and went to see a man in Newry who told her to look at religion as a way of healing herself,’ he said.
Lisa, who spent 10 years in the defence forces, left Ireland to join Isis in Syria in September 2015. Her sister, Lorna, recounts when she discovered Lisa had decided to join one of the world’s most brutal terrorist organisations.
‘Lisa left Ireland in September 2015 and the gardaí came just before Christmas telling us they’d heard she was in Syria. They said they’d heard it off the streets,’ she said.
Lorna vividly remembers the day her sister left their home in Co. Louth.
‘I was with her the morning she left. She came downstairs with a suitcase and said: “I’m away.” I asked her where she was going and she just said “I’m away” and that was it. I thought she was going to Tunisia. We thought she was going back to her husband.’
Lisa who married a UK jihadi Sajid Aslam in Isis terror capital Raqqa after divorcing her first husband, a 21-year-old Tunisian, messaged her family about her British husband while in Isis territory.
‘She told us her husband was a very bad man,’ Lorna said.
‘He used to hit her and beat her up. He was a very violent man. Any money she got he’d take it off her and spend on Play Station games. Any time Lisa would ask for food, to get her child nappies he’d take it off her. She said that the child was going around with no nappies and that the child was having accidents on the ground and [her husband] would sit and look at this. She was getting very annoyed. She’d say: “How can he watch this going on and do nothing?”’ she added.
It was shortly after giving birth to her daughter that Lisa told her family she wanted to come home.
‘She was afraid of her life of him. From that point she wanted to go home,’ George said.
Lorna and George say giving birth to Rakeya gave Lisa the child she desperately wanted after she had several miscarriages and an ectopic pregnancy with her first husband.
‘There wasn’t much internet access so we’d hear from her once every three months or once every six months and that she was going to have a baby. She’d had two or three miscarriages in Tunisia. She loved children – she had plenty of nieces and nephews. I’m sure she
‘Killing me knowing she’s stuck over there’
was upset about miscarrying like any woman who wanted a child,’ she said.
Lisa moved with her daughter from city to city as Syrian Democratic Forces – a Kurdish-led military group – began to wrest control of Isis territory, liberating cities from the black flag.
During this time she sent photos of her daughter to her family and told her father she wanted to leave Isis territory via a smuggler.
‘She thought they were going to be all God-loving people and that she’d have a comfortable life over there. But it’s whoever she got mixed up with, she was getting dragged from place to place. She’d no option,’ George said. ‘She said: “Dad, it’s not what I expected. I want to get out.”
‘I said: “How will you get out?” She said: “We’ll be smuggled through the desert or else we’ll be put on a boat.” You couldn’t trust anyone and I didn’t want them travelling through the desert maybe getting shot or stuck in these boats,’ he said.
Photographs home charted Lisa’s movement through Isis’s shrinking territory as messages became more sporadic.
‘We’d get the odd voice recording sent from Lisa with her daughter saying “granda” or “nanny” or my name. Lisa told her about her family in Ireland, and was teaching her numbers,’ Lorna said.
As American airstrikes pummelled through the caliphate, Lisa travelled with some of the most hardcore Isis supporters to the small enclave of Baghouz, where she was allowed into a US-backed Syrian Democratic Forces camp.
Lisa’s family say they have no contact with her currently.
‘The Government isn’t telling us anything. We don’t know what we should do. Everything we’re learning is from the news. We’re very worried about her child. It’s an awful place for a child. If she was here we coul d take care of her and give her toys and proper food take care of her health and take her to school,’ Lorna said. ‘She’s my sister; she’s got a daughter. At this stage we’re cried out – we just want them home as soon as possible.’
Describing the family as ‘in a state of shock’ Lorna said she is worried about two-year-old Rakeya who faces an uncertain future in a camp built for 10,000 people but now houses more than 70,000 who have fled Isis-controlled territory.
‘We’re worried about the summer. It gets so hot over there and we’re worried about a small child getting dehydration,’ sister Lorna said.
Many of the recent deaths in the camp were from malnutrition, with Isis parents deliberately starving their children.
Malnutrition, dehydration and pneumonia are the top killers in the camp where, according to the International Rescue Committee, the majority of deaths in the camp are children under five years old.
‘I can’t imagine Lisa leaving her daughter but, if it was for her daughter’s safety, I’m sure she’d consider it. I know she loves her daughter so much,’ Lorna said.
As of April 11, the number of people who died en route to Al Hawl or soon after arriving at the refugee camp stands at 249.
According to analysis of the first 123 reported deaths (from March 15) a quarter of these were of newborns under one month old. Children aged 16 and under make up 87% of the deaths.
The main cause of death for infants has been complications caused by severe acute malnutrition, pneumonia and dehydration.
‘Worried about a small child getting dehydrated’