Rivlin lightens sentence of Arab woman convicted of murdering her husband

President Reuven Rivlin on Monday lightened the sentence of Dalal Daoud, an Arab woman who was initially given a life sentence for murdering her husband.

The sentence was subsequently reduced to 25 years, of which Daoud has served 15.

Rivlin made it possible for her to apply to the Prison Services Parole Board six months earlier than she would have been eligible to do without his intervention.

Daoud’s marriage had been a nightmare of unrelenting violent abuse until such time that she decided that she needed to save her own life. The only way that she could do that was by ending the life of her husband.

Convicted in 2002, Daoud strenuously denied being guilty of the crime, but was unable to convince the court.

Two years ago, she applied for a retrial, but the request was denied by Supreme Court Justice Elyakim Rubinstein, partially on the grounds that Daoud on this occasion confessed to being guilty – but not exactly as charged. She asked for her conviction to be reduced to manslaughter.

Rivlin’s legal advisers, when examining the case, found that Daoud had suffered the cruelest forms of domestic violence on a continuous basis, and recommended that the president take this into account when addressing her request for clemency.

Rivlin decided against clemency – not because he was unsympathetic, but because he knew that by granting clemency she would be released from prison without anyone to help her readjust to society, whereas if the parole board decides to release her, she will have a parole officer and a social worker to help her.