The United Arab Emirates has sentenced an Israeli girl to loss of life for cocaine possession, Israeli media reported Tuesday, in a significant take a look at of latest relations between the Mideast nations.
Israel’s Foreign Ministry confirmed that it’s engaged on the case of the lady, recognized in native information studies as Fida Kiwan, a 43-year-old Haifa resident who owns a pictures studio.
️ Subscribe Now: Get Express Premium to entry the perfect Election reporting and evaluation ️
The Israeli information website Ynet mentioned Kiwan was arrested on March 21, 2021, with half a kilogram (over 1 pound) of cocaine that she claimed didn’t belong to her. Kiwan’s lawyer is reportedly interesting the sentence, which may very well be transformed to a jail time period.
The UAE’s Foreign Ministry didn’t reply to a request for touch upon the case.
The UAE’s harsh drug legal guidelines may take a look at burgeoning relations between Israel and the UAE underneath the “Abraham Accords,” a collection of diplomatic pacts between Israel and 4 Arab nations brokered by the Trump administration in 2020.
Normalization has turned glitzy Dubai right into a freewheeling Israeli vacationer vacation spot. Israel’s prime leaders, together with Prime Minister Naftali Bennett, have met with their counterparts within the Gulf state, and the UAE was a part of an unprecedented assembly of Arab and Israeli overseas ministers in Israel’s Negev desert late final month.
As for Kiwan, Israel’s Foreign Ministry mentioned 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.” Israeli media reported that Kiwan got here to Dubai for work on the invitation of a Palestinian acquaintance a little bit over a yr in the past. She was arrested a short time later after a search of her house turned up the medication.
Officials with data of the case instructed The Times of Israel, one other Israeli information website, that they count on the sentence to be decreased to a protracted jail time period upon attraction.
The UAE is among the world’s most restrictive nations in relation to individuals importing and possessing medication, together with substances for private use like hashish and even over-the-counter medicines like narcotics.
Trafficking usually carries a life sentence and possession a shorter jail sentence. While UAE legislation permits for the loss of life penalty in sure instances, capital punishment is never carried out. The final recognized executions had been in 2011 and 2014, in opposition to two males convicted of homicide.
,
With inputs from TheIndianEXPRESS
