Mr. Justice Hunt “said the belief that adherence to Islam compelled travel to the Islamic State caliphate was confined to supporters of al-Baghdadi and was very far from being accepted by Muslims generally, who were repelled by the violent and intolerant nature of the group.”
However, he doesn’t seem to have explored the question of why some Muslims become supporters of al-Baghdadi in the first place, or in particular, why a convert to Islam such as Lisa Smith would do so. That is the question that no one in the West seems interested in asking or answering.
“Lisa Smith found guilty of Islamic State membership, but cleared of financing terrorism,” by Orla O’Donnell, RTÉ, May 30, 2022 (thanks to Anne):
Former Irish soldier Lisa Smith has been found guilty of being a member of the unlawful terrorist group, the so-called Islamic State.
She was acquitted of a charge of financing terrorism by sending money to a man in May 2015 for the benefit of IS.
Smith, an Islamic convert, travelled to Syria after terrorist leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi called on Muslims to travel to the Islamic State.
The 40-year-old pleaded not guilty to being a member of the group between 28 October 2015 and 1 December 2019.
The prosecution alleged that she answered the call from al-Baghdadi and became the “life blood” of Isis as a propaganda tool and as a woman who would help to build the Islamic State.
Prosecuting counsel Sean Gillane said she had enveloped herself in the black flag of IS.
He said the court could not ignore that Smith travelled thousands of kilometres, knowing about the activities of the terrorist organisation that was “up to its neck in blood”.
He said there was no benign Islamic State she could have been attempting to join, there was only the terrorist organisation….
were committing an offence.
He said she went to Syria to be a dutiful wife and to create a home.
In the court’s verdict, Mr Justice Hunt said the court had decided that the issue of religion, or religious belief or religious compulsion was irrelevant.
He said it was no defence for a person to say they committed a crime because of a religious belief, even if sincerely held.
He said the belief that adherence to Islam compelled travel to the Islamic State caliphate was confined to supporters of al-Baghdadi and was very far from being accepted by Muslims generally, who were repelled by the violent and intolerant nature of the group.
Mr Justice Hunt said the primary and most significant aspect of the circumstantial evidence against Smith was her travel to Syria in October 2015….
He said context was everything and the court took into account prior matters and subsequent events.
The judge said Smith did not make her decisions as a result of being under pressure from anyone else.
He said before she travelled to Syria she conducted extensive relevant research and inquiries and knew what awaited her at her destination.
He said she had viewed propaganda videos showing extreme and terrifying acts of violence.
She was particularly well informed about the organisation that ruled where she decide to live.
She knew she was not just subscribing to life under sharia law – but to a regime that had specific techniques to enforce that law.
He said there was no room for pleas of naivety or ignorance by the time she travelled to Syria. Her eyes were wide open, he said….
Smith was a member of the Irish Defence forces from 2001 to 2011.
She applied for discharge, the court heard, because of inconsistencies between her faith and her role in the army.
In particular, she had been refused an application to be allowed to wear a hijab.
In October 2015, she bought a one-way ticket, travelled from Dublin to Turkey, and crossed the border into an IS-controlled area of Syria….
Smith was crying as the guilty verdict was announced.
She was granted bail in advance of a sentencing hearing on 11 July.
tim gallagher says
It is an odd argument by the judge that the violence that is fundamental to basic islam has nothing to do with this woman’s actions. The judge says that most Muslims are repulsed by the violence of ISIS, and no doubt many are. But there have been over 40,000 Muslim terrorist attacks since the 9/11 attacks, so it does seem clear that the religion of islam does encourage violent actions. There would be nowhere near as many terrorist attacks by Christians or Buddhists. In fact, there would almost none. So this woman’s actions have everyhting to do with the religion of islam’s violent nature. The judge needs to wake up to reality when it comes to islam’s nature.
mortimer says
Mr. Justice Hunt apparently is not well informed about the JIHAD DOCTRINE which states that JIHAD is a COMPULSORY and OBLIGATORY action for ALL MUSLIMS to perform it in some form according to their ability.
– from he Hanbali School (Ibn Taymiyya, fourteenth-century Hanbali jurist):
“In ordering jihad Allah has said: “Fight them until there is no persecution and religion becomes Allah’s” [2:189]…. Allah has, in fact, repeated this obligation [to fight] and has glorified jihad in most of the Medina suras: he has stigmatized those who neglected to do so, and treated them as hypocrites and cowards…. It is impossible to count the number of times when jihad and its virtues are extolled in the Book and the Sunna. Jihad is the best form of voluntary service that man consecrates to Allah….
Therefore, since jihad is divinely instituted, and its goal is that religion reverts in its entirety to Allah and to make Allah’s word triumph, whoever opposes the realization of this goal will be fought, according to the unanimous opinion of Muslims.
Jews and Christians, as well as Zoroastrians (Magians), must be fought until they embrace Islam or pay the jizya without recriminations. (Islamic) Jurists do not agree on the question of knowing if the jizya should be imposed on other categories of infidels; on the other hand, all consider that it should not be required of Arabs [hence they should convert to Islam or be killed or expelled].”
– from the respected fourteenth-century historian Ibn Khaldun:
“In the Muslim community, the holy war is a religious duty, because of the universalism of the (Muslim) mission and (the obligation to) convert everybody to Islam either by persuasion or by force.”
-from a detailed definition of jihad from the Shorter Encyclopaedia of Islam, page 89, [7]:
“DJIHAD, holy war. The spread of Islam by arms is a religious duty upon Muslims in general. It narrowly escaped being a sixth “rukn”, or fundamental duty, and is indeed still so regarded by the descendants of the Kharidjis. The position was reached gradually but quickly. In the Meccan Suras of the Kur’an patience under attack is taught; no other attitude was possible. But at Madina the right to repel attack appears, and gradually it became a prescribed duty to fight against and subdue the hostile Meccans. Whether Muhammad himself recognized that his position implied steady and unprovoked war against the unbelieving world until it was subdued to Islam may be in doubt. Traditions are explicit on the point; but the Kuranic passages speak always of the unbelievers who are to be subdued as dangerous or faithless. Still, the story of his writing to the powers around him shows that such a universal position was implicit in his mind, and it certainly developed immediately after his death, when the Muslim armies advanced out of Arabia. It is now a “fard ‘ala ‘l-kifaya, a duty in general on all male, free, adult Muslims, sane in mind and body and having means enough to reach the Muslim army, yet not a duty necessarily incumbent on every individual but sufficiently performed when done by a certain number. So it must continue to be done until the whole world is under the rule of Islam.”
Janetmarie says
We all know the GLOBAL CALIPHATE is the continued goal of all Arabs.
Janetmarie says
Is the GLOBAL CALIPHATE is the continued goal of all Arabs.
gravenimage says
Not all Arabs, some of whom are Christian.
Certainly the global Caliphate is the goal of all pious Muslims, though.
Wellington says
Irish law aside, this woman is a total loser. And the fact that Islam exists at all in Ireland bodes ill for Ireland.
There is no upside to Islam in Ireland. None.
OLD GUY says
There is no upside to Islam anywhere.
Wellington says
Agreed.
Alfredo says
Most certainly this judge is totally clueless about Islam. He believes this deceived dummy made the effort to travel to Syria only because she answered the call by Baghdadi?
She did not feel compelled by her new religion to wage jihad against the infidels according to Allah’s (a.k.a.) Muhammad’s commands?
Her decision to send money to some jihadi in Syria, purchase a ticket to travel to that country, leave her previous life in Ireland, and religion is totally irrelevant to her actions?
This judge surely is a candidate for the dumbest dhimmi of the year!
Beneath the Veil of Consciousness says
Once again the devil is in the details, namely the devilish nature of Islam.
Curse the details, most Westerners
choose to abide by a very superficial
and cursory interpretation of Islam.
If the West’s interpretation of Islam was a food source it would be highly processed with its essential ingredients bleached out and replaced with artificial tastes, colors, and textures. Nothing like the real deal.
gravenimage says
Ireland: Ex-soldier, convert to Islam, guilty of joining ISIS, judge says religion is irrelevant to the case
……………………
Why does this foolish judge think she joined ISIS to begin with?