Lior Haiat, a spokesman for Israel’s International Ministry, stated Kiwan had returned to Israel in a single day Saturday after the pardon.
The workplace of Israel’s ceremonial president, Isaac Herzog, stated the pardon got here following a request by Herzog to UAE President Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, who agreed “as a gesture of fine will,” to launch her.
There was no speedy remark from officers within the UAE.
Kiwan’s arrest got here shortly after Israel and the UAE normalized ties beneath U.S.-brokered agreements generally known as the Abraham Accords.
Ties between the international locations have flourished since, with commerce rising and Israeli vacationers flocking in droves to glitzy Dubai.
In keeping with Israeli media, Kiwan, who is alleged to personal a pictures studio within the northern Israeli metropolis of Haifa, got here to Dubai for work on the invitation of a Palestinian acquaintance. She was arrested a short time later after a search of her condo turned up the medication.
The United Arab Emirates maintains the demise penalty for a number of offenses, together with drug smuggling. Nevertheless, executions stay uncommon within the federation of seven sheikhdoms, with the final demise sentence carried out by firing squad in 2017 in opposition to a person convicted of abducting, raping and killing an 8-year-old boy.
