Irish ISIS member detained upon her arrival from Turkey
ERBIL (Kurdistan 24) – Turkey deported an Irish national accused of membership to the so-called Islamic State, along with her two-year-old daughter, where the woman was arrested upon her arrival in Dublin on Sunday.
Lisa Smith, 38, was arrested by Irish police when she arrived at the Dublin airport. According to Reuters, authorities in Ireland had been trying to repatriate Smith for months, concerned about the well-being of her daughter.
Police said the girl is now being cared for by relatives.
Turkey began to repatriate foreign Islamic State members in its detention in early November, starting with a US national.
The identity of most of the suspects has not been revealed.
Related Article: Turkey starts repatriation of foreign ISIS fighters, beginning with American
In November, Turkey’s Interior Minister Suleyman Soylu warned that Ankara would return foreign Islamic State detainees to their native countries, even if their citizenship had been revoked.
According to Soylu, Turkey currently has around 1,200 foreign Islamic State members in its prisons, including relatives of the suspects.
“We are not a hotel” for any country’s Islamic State members, he said at the time.
Many nations in the European Union fear that due to a lack of evidence of criminal wrongdoing, Islamic State supporters could be quickly released once they appear in court after returning home.
On Nov. 19, Soylu reiterated Turkey’s stance and said Ankara would return “a large part” of the foreign fighters to their home countries by the end of the year.
“They do not have the right to leave their citizens without a nationality. They have no such right,” the interior minister said, referring to European nations who have stripped their nationals of citizenship for joining the Islamic State.
“This is why we held evaluations with certain countries on this, and they are taking them back.”