[ad_1]
For years, Lisa Smith communicated with a “gallery of confederates” on-line earlier than becoming a member of the Islamic State.
hey included an ISIS propagandist, an notorious extremist preacher with Irish roots who was a Monty Python fan, in addition to a fundraiser for the group who had been all convicted or hunted for terror crimes.
Gardaí found that Smith conversed with every of them by Fb, non-public messenger, as nicely
as encrypted messaging apps on numerous topics over a number of years.
John Georgelas, aka Yahya Abu Hassan
Born in December 1983 to a conservative Texan household, John Georgelas would rise to turn into one of the outstanding members of ISIS.
He transformed to Islam after the 9/11 terror assaults and travelled to Damascus to review Arabic the place he turned proficient within the language and scripture.
Following his conversion, he additionally started utilizing totally different aliases which included Yahya Abu Hassan. He met fellow jihadist Tania Joya on-line in late 2002 and so they married two years later, having three kids and shifting between London, the US and Syria.
Georgelas was arrested throughout an undercover FBI investigation focusing on jihadis in 2006 after making an attempt to hack a pro-Israeli lobbying web site. He was jailed for 36 months.
Following his launch, they moved to Egypt from the place he continued his jihadist preaching on-line.
They arrange the ‘We Hear We Obey’ Fb group which mentioned extremist ideology together with jihadi, the Caliphate and Sharia legislation.
One in every of his most outstanding followers was Lisa Smith and in 2013 he satisfied her to affix them in Syria in the course of the nation’s civil warfare.
Georgelas finally rose to such a outstanding place inside ISIS that in early 2014 he challenged its management – together with Abu Bakr Al-Baghdadi – to declare a caliphate.
He additionally sporadically took half in preventing, and was injured by mortar shell shrapnel close to Aleppo.
Throughout his restoration he continued to converse on-line with Smith, who had returned to Eire, and satisfied her to return to ISIS territory.
Georgelas had turn into a key goal for US and coalition forces and is presumed to have died in June 2017 in a bombing marketing campaign in the course of the Maydin offensive.
Tania Joya
The ‘First Woman of ISIS’ was a London-born Muslim who, like her husband, turned radicalised after the September 11 atrocity.
Joya was overseas when Georgelas was arrested by the FBI and brokered a deal to assist the bureau in the event that they let her again into the US.
Throughout his incarceration she turned “extra relaxed”, extra American, and fewer spiritual.
She recalled being “dragged” to Egypt the place they lived in an condominium the place overseas fighters stayed earlier than shifting on to Syria.
Joya additionally started conversing on-line with Smith and took a liking to her.
“All of us revered Lisa Marie. She had coaching within the military. I assumed she was fascinating…she had information about warfare planes and issues I used to be oblivious to,” she advised gardaí.
The couple and Smith finally travelled from Istanbul throughout the Turkish border with Joya later telling the trial in regards to the former soldier’s marriage to an al-Qa’ida affiliate.
“I assumed it was bats**t marrying Ahmed,” she advised the trial.
She finally turned disillusioned with extremism and left Syria, saying she didn’t need to be in a warzone together with her kids.
Joya finally relocated to the US the place she has been outspoken in opposition to each Islam and jihadism.
Robert ‘Musa’ Cerantonio
Born in 1985 on the outskirts of Melbourne, Robert Cerantonio got here from a Catholic household with Irish roots and transformed to Islam in his teenage years.
He would finally rise to turn into Australia’s finest recognized ISIS supporter and was described by Joya as being “like a celeb” and would recite Monty Python strains.
The ‘We Hear We Obey’ Fb group had a modest membership, till Cerantonio joined and introduced with him his vital social media following.
In 2013 he was underneath investigation by the Australian police for inciting violence.
Cerantonio was later arrested and charged with planning a violent Islamist incursion into the southern Philippines.
He was the ringleader of a bunch that deliberate to sail from North Queensland to the south of the nation in a fishing boat to overthrow its authorities.
Cerantonio was jailed for seven years and earlier this yr introduced that he was quitting Islam.
Isa Kocoglu
The Melbourne father was one other of the Islamic extremists with whom Smith communicated on-line.
In 2017 he was arrested as a part of a counter-terror investigation into fundraising for the Islamic State.
Over a number of totally different transactions he transferred round $2,700 to Georgelas between 2013 and 2014, later admitting to the crimes.
[ad_2]
Source link