Kerala nurse sentenced to death in Yemen for murder, India says ‘extending all help possible’
India has said that they are extending all help to Kerala nurse Nimisha Priya, whose death sentence was approved by Yemen President Rashad al-Alimi. Priya has been in a Yemen jail since 2017 for allegedly murdering a Yemeni national. According to reports, the execution is scheduled to take place within a month.
The Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) expressed its concern over the development and said that all options are being explored.
“We are aware of the sentencing of Ms. Nimisha Priya in Yemen. We understand that the family of Ms. Priya is exploring relevant options. The government is extending all possible help in the matter,” MEA spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal said.
The case
Nimisha Priya, a trained nurse from India, was found guilty of killing Talal Abdo Mahdi, a Yemeni national, in 2017. Priya, who had been working in Yemen for several years, reportedly killed Mahdi after attempting to retrieve her passport, which he had seized. She injected him with a sedative, intending to incapacitate him temporarily and take back the passport, but the dose proved fatal, causing his death from an overdose.
In 2018, Priya was sentenced to death by a Yemeni court. Her appeal to the Yemeni Supreme Court in 2023 was rejected, and now, following the president’s approval, her fate rests on the possibility of securing forgiveness from the victim’s family and tribal leaders.
Efforts to save Nimisha Priya
Priya’s family, particularly her mother, Prema Kumari, has been fighting relentlessly to save her life. Kumari traveled to Yemen last year, staying in the capital Sana’a in an attempt to negotiate the blood money with Mahdi’s family, a traditional practice in Yemen that could have potentially led to the commutation of Priya’s sentence.
However, efforts to negotiate the blood money faced setbacks. In September, talks were stalled when the lawyer appointed by the Indian Embassy, Abdullah Ameer, demanded a pre-negotiation fee of $20,000, which later increased to $40,000, payable in two installments. While the MEA had already provided $19,871 to Ameer in July, disagreements over the fees hampered the negotiation process. The Save Nimisha Priya International Action Council had raised part of the required funds through crowdfunding, but concerns about transparency over the use of funds also complicated matters.
Who is Nimisha Priya?
Nimisha Priya, who was married and has an eight-year-old child, moved to Yemen in 2011. She later formed a partnership with Mahdi, who helped her set up a clinic in Sana’a, as Yemen’s laws required foreign nationals to have local partners. Priya alleged that Mahdi had been harassing her for years, even claiming to be her husband by forging documents. Priya’s legal representatives have claimed that Mahdi tortured her and extorted money from her business. Despite her repeated attempts to seek help from the police, she was allegedly arrested and incarcerated for six days, which intensified her suffering.
In July 2017, after enduring years of abuse, Priya attempted to sedate Mahdi to retrieve her passport. However, the sedative had a fatal effect on Mahdi, leading to his death.