An appeals court in Abu Dhabi has commuted the death sentence of an Israeli citizen who was arrested was arrested for drug possession.
The woman, a 43-year-old Israeli Arab from the northern city of Haifa named Fida Kiwan, was arrested in Dubai on March 17th, 2021 after half a kilogram of cocaine was found at her apartment.
Kiwan was found guilty despite her claim that the cocaine was not hers, and was sentenced to death in May.
With the death sentence commuted, Kiwan will instead receive a lengthy prison sentence.
Attorney Tami Ullman, who represented Kiwan, told Kan Bet: "They dropped the death penalty and accepted the appeal we filed through the local attorney. e received the good news and we are happy. In the coming days she will be sentenced to imprisonment. We will do everything to bring her to Israel as soon as possible."
Kiwan has previously said she did not imagine she would be punished so severely for drug possession. "I never thought I would be sentenced to death. I do not think it will happen, it is a modern country. But I do not know, it is the law and is in the system. Execution is something I have read about in books and seen in movies."