The United Arab Emirates has sentenced an Israeli woman to death for cocaine possession and dealing, in a major test of new relations between the Mideast countries.
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The Foreign Ministry confirmed that it is working on the case of the woman, identified by her lawyer as Fida Kiwan, a 43-year-old Haifa resident who owns a photography studio. She was sentenced on Monday, said attorney Tami Olman.
Kiwan was arrested on March 21, 2021, with half a kilogram (over 1 pound) of cocaine that she claimed did not belong to her. Her lawyer is appealing the sentence, which could be converted to a prison term.
The UAE's Foreign Ministry did not respond to a request for comment on the case.
The UAE's harsh drug laws could test burgeoning relations between Israel and the UAE under the "Abraham Accords," a series of diplomatic pacts between Israel and four Arab countries brokered by the Trump administration in 2020.
Normalization has turned glitzy Dubai into a freewheeling Israeli tourist destination. Israel's top leaders, including Prime Minister Naftali Bennett, have met with their counterparts in the Gulf state, and the UAE was part of an unprecedented meeting of Arab and Israeli foreign ministers in the Negev desert late last month.
As for Kiwan, the Foreign Ministry said it "is aware of the incident and is taking care of it through the division of Israelis abroad in the consular department and Israeli representations in the UAE."
According to reports, Kiwan came to Dubai for work at the invitation of a Palestinian acquaintance a little over a year ago. She was arrested a short while later after a search of her apartment turned up the drugs. According to other reports, she was arrested after trying to sell the drugs to an undercover police officer.
The UAE is one of the world's most restrictive nations when it comes to people importing and possessing drugs, including substances for personal use like cannabis and even over-the-counter medications like narcotics.
Trafficking typically carries a life sentence and possession comes with a shorter jail sentence. While UAE law allows for the death penalty in certain cases, capital punishment is rarely carried out and the ruling in Kiwan's case is headed for an appeal. The last known executions were in 2011 and 2014, against two men convicted of murder.
"The police in Dubai abused her and beat her so she would confess that the drugs were hers," a relative of Kiwan's told Israel Hayom. "She went to Dubai for two weeks stayed at an apartment with roommates. The drugs are not hers, and she isn't a dealer."
The relative added that the police in Dubai told her that if she confessed the drugs belonged to her, she would be expelled from the country and wouldn't be indicted.
Kiwan's mother said: "She's an amazing daughter. Always helping and loving everyone. She is an advocate of peace and goodwill between people." She added that she's only had one phone call with her daughter. Kiwan has been visited by a family member over the past year.
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"It's been a year since Fida was arrested," he mother continued. "We wanted to launch a media campaign, but the Foreign Ministry told us it would be better to keep things quiet, because it could make her ruling worse. For a year, we have been strung along and lied to that if we discuss her case it could hurt her, and in the end, we got the bitter news that she received the death penalty. I paid NIS 200,000 for a lawyer, and I was promised she'd be taken out of there.
"I know there were other people with her, but the victim is our daughter, and the rest of the people have disappeared," her mother said, adding that Kiwan was hunger striking in prison.
"She is not a drug dealer," a friend of Kiwan's said. "She's a successful woman who lives life… We are positive that the drugs have nothing to do with her… They needed to investigate where the drugs came from instead of setting her up like this."
Kiwan's attorney, Tami Olman, told Israel Hayom: "We will gather all the evidence, appeal to the local authorities and do everything to help her within the framework of the law. We've represented her since she was sentenced."
