UAE Sentences Israeli Woman to Death for Drug Smuggling

An Israeli woman was sentenced to death by a court in the United Arab Emirates after she was convicted of drug smuggling. Fida Kiwan, a resident of Haifa who owns a photography studio, was convicted of possessing half a kilogram of cocaine while visiting Dubai for work. She says the drugs are not hers and were planted in her bag and in the apartment she was staying in. Her family told Israel’s Channel 12 that the drugs were delivered to the apartment that she was staying in. She was arrested more than a year ago; the death sentence was handed down on Tuesday.

Her local lawyer is expected to appeal the sentence. The UAE has very strict drug-smuggling laws that provide for levying a death sentence on traffickers. Such sentences are frequently softened to lengthy prison sentences. Kiwan could find her sentence converted to a prison term that could be served in an Israeli prison.

Israel and the UAE signed the Abraham Accords in Washington in September 2020, which normalized relations between the countries. The UAE has seen tens of thousands of Israelis visit the Emirate since then.