IRISH ISIS bride Lisa Smith has launched a fresh plea to be rescued from Syria and returned to her home in Ireland.
Taoiseach Leo Varadkar previously Smith permission to return to Ireland along with her two-year-old son stating that it was the “compassionate” thing to do.
A former Irish Defence Forces member from Dundalk, Co Louth, Smith converted to Islam and left Ireland for Syria in 2015.
Earlier this month she was detained by US forces in northern Syria after fleeing the remnants of the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant’s ‘caliphate’ with her child.
Smith is now living in a camp in the war-torn region of Baghouz but is desperate to escape her Syrian “prison” and return to Ireland.
“I think people should just realise that all the people here are not terrorists. I want to go home,” she told CNN.
Speaking dressed in a niqab with her two-year-old son in her hands, Smith said she was well aware that possible prison time could greet her back in Ireland.
“Even if they put me in prison at home, it’s better than being here,” a Canadian citizen tells @JomanaCNN who gets rare access to #SDF-controlled camps where more than 1,000 foreign #ISIS fighters are stranded as their home countries seem reluctant to take them back. #Syria pic.twitter.com/FKxCXzUDp3
— Connect the World (@CNNConnect) March 24, 2019
“I know they’d strip me of my passport and I wouldn’t travel and I’d be watched kind of, but prisons I don’t know?” she said.
“I’m already in prison.”
Varadkar has already stated that Smith’s case will be closely examined to assess whether she is guilty of any criminal wrongdoing.
Both Smith and her young son are Irish citizens and are therefore privy to the same rights.
Discussions have already taken place between Ireland’s Defence Forces and the Department of Foreign Affairs to map out a clear plan for Smith.
