June 19 (UPI) -- An Israeli parole board on Wednesday agreed to cut a prison term and set free an Israeli-Arab woman who killed her abusive husband nearly 20 years ago.
The Israel Prison Service board granted the reduction for Dalal Da'ud, who was given a life sentence in 2002 for killing her husband. She will be released Wednesday into an inmate rehabilitation program, it said.
The board agreed on the move after Israeli prosecutors advocated her early release due to the "special circumstances" of her case -- namely, that she killed her husband after enduring years of violent abuse without any help from police. After calming him one night with sleeping pills, she smothered him with blankets and disposed of his body.
"He was a good man, but when he saw something not good he went crazy," Da'aud said in a 2017 interview. "I suffered a lot. The suffering that is biggest is leaving the children. I left a 4-year-old boy and 11-year-old girl."
Advocates said Da'ud was repeatedly raped and beaten and had made 26 calls to police by the time she killed him. Medical files show multiple bone fractures, cuts and lacerations. She attempted suicide once and underwent a psychological evaluation.
"Justice has been served," Da'aud's attorney Revital Ben-Shabat said. "Dalal is very surprised and moved."
Supporters rallied outside the court where the parole board issued its decision.
"Dalal Da'aud is not a murderer, but a victim of violence who decided to fight for her life," Knesset member Ofer Cassif said. "No one defended her, and now she is the one who pays too much for defending herself."
Israeli President Reuven Rivlin commuted Da'aud's sentence two years ago but the parole board rejected that request, saying she needed more rehabilitation.
Wednesday's release marks the second time this month a woman was freed for killing an abusive husband. Briton Sally Challen was released June 7 after her conviction was overturned. She'd killed her husband with a hammer after years of abuse.
