Former Irish Defence Forces soldier Lisa Smith married a member of Al Qaeda and stayed in a “bombed-out” house in Syria where militia and rebels held meetings, a court has heard.
Ms Smith, 39, is accused of holding membership of ISIS and of providing funds to benefit the group.
Giving evidence on Thursday, Tanya Joya, Ms Smith's former friend, told the Special Criminal Court in Ireland that she and her former husband, John Georgealis, had met the accused through his Facebook group “We Hear, We Obey".
Ms Joya, originally from London, was raised Muslim and said she became radicalised after the September 11 terror attacks.
She said the couple met Ms Smith in Turkey and that the trio travelled to Syria where they stayed with a Syrian general.
“We stayed in a building that was bombed out,” she said.
“It was where the militia, the rebels had meetings.
“People entering the country would stay there.”
She said they had stayed there for one week before they went to stay “with a really fanatical Syrian war man” at another location.
It was here that Ms Smith met a Tunisian man named Ahmed, a member of Al Qaeda, who she wanted to marry, Ms Joya said.
“I didn’t like it that Lisa Marie wanted to marry Ahmed,” she said.
“She didn’t know him, but he had a cute smile and he was very shy.”
Ms Joya told the court the pair got married in Syria but that she had refused to attend the wedding, saying she believed Ms Smith had been “indoctrinated”.
Ms Smith was arrested at Dublin Airport in 2019 on suspicion of terrorist offences after returning from Turkey with her young daughter.
It is alleged that between 2015 and 2019, she was a member of ISIS and she is accused of sending money to terrorists.
She has denied the charges and the trial continues.
