SANA’A: Yemen’s President Rashad al-Alimi has approved the death sentence for Indian nurse Nimisha Priya, who has been imprisoned since 2017 for the murder of a Yemeni citizen. According to media reports, the execution could take place within a month.
In response to the development, the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) stated on Monday that it is aware of Nimisha Priya’s sentencing in Yemen.
“We understand that the family of Priya is exploring relevant options. The government is extending all possible help in the matter,” MEA Spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal said in a statement.
The Yemeni President’s decision has come as a shock to Nimisha Priya’s family, who have been striving to save the 36-year-old from death row. Her 57-year-old mother, Prema Kumari, traveled to Sana’a, the capital of Yemen, earlier this year and has reportedly been staying there to seek a waiver of the death penalty and negotiate blood money with the victim’s family.
Nimisha Priya Case
Nimisha Priya was convicted of murdering Yemeni national Talal Abdo Mahdi in 2017 and sentenced to death by a Yemeni trial court in 2018. Since then, her family has been working tirelessly for her release. They appealed to the Yemeni Supreme Court against the trial court’s decision, but the appeal was dismissed in 2023.
With the country’s President now rejecting Priya’s plea, her fate hinges on obtaining forgiveness from the victim’s family and their tribal leaders.
Prema Kumari, Nimisha Priya’s mother, has been negotiating blood money with the victim’s family. However, talks stalled in September after Abdullah Ameer, the Indian Embassy’s lawyer, demanded a $20,000 pre-negotiation fee. The MEA had already paid $19,871, but Ameer insisted on a total of $40,000, to be paid in two installments. The Save Nimisha Priya International Action Council raised the first installment through crowdfunding but faced challenges in ensuring transparency with donors.
About Nimisha Priya
Nimisha Priya, originally from Palakkad, is a trained nurse who worked in private hospitals in Yemen for several years. In 2014, due to financial reasons, her husband and young daughter returned to India. That same year, Yemen was engulfed in civil war, and they were unable to return as the country halted the issuance of new visas.
In 2015, Priya sought Mahdi’s help to establish a clinic in Sana’a, but he later stole her wedding photograph, falsely claimed they were married, and took control of the clinic’s revenue. Priya confronted him, but the harassment escalated to physical abuse, and Mahdi seized her passport.
When she approached the police, they arrested her for six days. In 2017, she attempted to sedate Mahdi soughting help from a jail warden to retrieve her passport, but he died from a drug overdose.
