Lisa Smith defence case begins at Special Criminal Court

This report is a localnews.ie summary based on public court reporting and records; sources are listed below.

Lisa Smith’s defence case began at the Special Criminal Court, where Professor Hugh Kennedy was called as its first witness on 28 March 2022. The proceedings were reported on 28 March 2022.

Smith, a former member of the Defence Forces from Dundalk, has pleaded not guilty to financing terrorism and membership of the terrorist organisation Isis.

Professor Kennedy, a professor of Arabic who has written about the history of caliphates, said a person could believe in a caliphate without believing in the ideology of the Islamic State. He said there were different views among Muslims and that, within a minority view, there were respected Islamic scholars who argued that the caliphate was legitimate.

Under prosecution cross-examination, he agreed that Isis had manipulated and distorted the history of the caliphate. Asked whether its representation of that history was narrow and sectarian, he agreed that was probably true. On re-examination, he said the Isis publication Dabiq had been very persuasive for many people.

The trial was continuing before Mr Justice Tony Hunt, presiding, with Judge Gerard Griffin and Judge Cormac Dunne at the non-jury court. Closing arguments were expected to begin the following day.