Israeli freed by Belarus after over a month in prison for cannabis in bag

An Israeli woman has been freed from Belarusian custody after being arrested with cannabis and is on her way to Israel.

The woman, Maya Reiten, had been detained for the past month and a half after being arrested at the airport in Minsk with 2.5 grams of cannabis in her bag. Reiten, a lawyer, has authorization to use medical cannabis in Israel. Relatives said the drugs must have been in her bag by mistake.

Efforts to free her involved personal appeals by President Isaac Herzog, Foreign Minister Yair Lapid and Finance Minister Avigdor Liberman to authorities in Belarus.

יוני רייטן, אחיה של מאיה רייטן סטול, שוחח עם בן כספית ואריה אלדד וסיפר כי "נמצאו אצלה שני כדורים של אטנט, מבחינתם החומר הפעיל בהם נחשב סם, הם עשו לנו תיק בתוך תיק" >>>https://t.co/5JMg10NRZg

— מעריב אונליין (@MaarivOnline) November 30, 2021

In a statement, Lapid thanks all those in the Foreign Ministry involved in efforts to bring Reiten back, in Israel and abroad. He says he has spoken with Reiten and her family to celebrate the news.

In November, relatives of Reiten had said she was being held in very difficult conditions. In a letter to her family, Reiten had said she did not know if she would last long in Belarusian prison.