I do, I do, I do, I do – Isis bride had FOUR husbands
Former Defence Forces member will return this weekend – Taoiseach
LISA SMITH has had four husbands, it has emerged as the Taoiseach confirmed the Isis bride would return here this weekend with her two-year-old daughter.
Ms Smith, a former member of the Defence Forces, was expected to be flown back by Turkish authorities imminently, but lastminute diplomatic problems delayed her departure.
‘It’s anticipated that two Irish citizens, Lisa Smith and her daughter will return to Ireland this weekend,’ Leo Varadkar, said last night.
Speaking at the election count centre in Adamstown, Dublin, Mr Varadkar said: ‘Obviously when it comes to her daughter, she’s a child, she’s going to be protected and social services are ready to do that.
‘In relation to Lisa Smith, the gardaí are going to want to speak with her. They may be in a position to charge her and, if they do, prosecution may follow but that’s all I can really say about that.’
Ms Smith will be arrested and questioned by gardaí when she touches down in Ireland, the Irish
Mail on Sunday understands. It is not known if she will then face charges.
The fact that the radicalised former Air Corps member was in Syria with her daughter – whose father is a dead jihadi fighter – was first revealed by the MoS when this newspaper interviewed her in a camp holding the wives and children of Isis fighters in Syria.
The MoS can now reveal that the Dundalk woman’s Tunisian jihadi husband ‘Ahmed’ fought for an AlQaeda militia during her time in Syria in 2013. The fighter was part of a group of jihadists who travelled from Egypt to Syria.
The group included Ms Smith’s ‘guru’, Isis media man John Georgelas, an American convert to Islam who climbed the ranks in Isis and was dubbed the ‘Isis Goebbels’.
Ms Smith maintains she was just a visitor in the high-profile jihadist’s family home but others say she was in a relationship with Georgelas.
The Louth woman, 38, is believed to have married at least four times, with the first marriage taking place in Ireland in 2010 to an Algerian man from Louth, from whom she was separated soon after.
Ms Smith was later linked to an Iraqi man from Dublin and British Pakistiani Isis member Sajid Aslam, who she claims is the father of her daughter. Irish diplomats and Irish Army Rangers travelled to Turkey in October, to negotiate Ms Smith’s return and carry out a risk assessment. Turkey has said it wants her out of the country.
Ms Smith faces questioning by gardaí when she returns. Detectives travelled to Australia and the US to interview ex-colleagues in the Defence Forces and associates about Ms Smith during her time in Syria. They have also interviewed people in her home town of Dundalk and members of Ireland’s Islamic community.
Tusla, the child and family agency, will be involved in planning the future care of Ms Smith’s daughter Rakaya. Mr Varadkar previously described the situation as ‘tricky’.
‘Ultimately the child is an Irish citizen and deserves to be protected in my view,’ he said.
The MoS has also learned that Ms Smith, the former Air Corps member, who served for a time on the Government jet, ran a business via Facebook selling T-shirts and headbands with Islamic inscriptions.
She told women in Dublin she was worried about her finances and claimed her bank account had been frozen as early as 2012. She is believed to have received a sizeable amount of money after leaving the Air Corps, which she later told associates was ‘taken’ from her.
Ms Smith is believed to hold vital intelligence on Isis returnees and a high-profile member from Ireland.
She confirmed she met Irish Isis members during her time in Syria and was living in the same tent as the wife of naturalised Irish citizen Alexandr Bekmirzaev. It is unknown if Bekmirzaev, his wife and young son will also return.
Turkey has announced it will deport around 2,500 foreign captives – even if their governments choose to revoke citizenship. Ankara says it has captured hundreds of militants in northeastern Syria and already holds hundreds more Isis suspects. It has accused European countries of being too slow to take back citizens who travelled to fight in the Middle East.
Allies are worried Isis militants could escape as a result of the assault against the Kurdish militia, which has been holding thousands of the group’s fighters and tens of thousands of their family members. Ms Smith fled over the border to Turkey along with others in the camp in which she was living after US president Donald Trump pulled US troops out of Syria, and Turkey attacked Kurdish forces along the border.
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