Indian nurse Nimisha Priya set to be executed in Yemen on July 16

An Indian national Nimisha Priya — who is on death row after being convicted for the murder of a Yemeni national — will be executed on July 16.

The Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) sources informed that the ministry is closely following the matter. “We have been in touch with local authorities and her family members and rendered all possible assistance. We continue to closely follow the matter," sources said.

Priya, who hails from Kollengode town in Kerala’s Palakkad, worked as a nurse in UAE. Her death sentence was approved by Yemen’s President on December 30 last year.

She is married and mother of a girl child. She moved to Yemen in 2011. There she met Yemeni national Talal Abdo Mahdi. Her husband and daughter returned to India in 2014 due to financial reasons. The same year, Yemen was engulfed in civil war, and Priya could not go back, as the country stopped issuing new visas. Mahdi is said to have helped Priya set up a clinic in Yemen’s capital Sanaa. The country’s law states that foreigners can only start their business there if they have any local as a partner.

In 2017, Priya was found guilty of murdering Mahdi — which she claimed was an act of self-defence. Priya alleged Mahdi had been harassing her for money and had seized her passport. She said that he forged her documents and claimed to be her husband while subjecting her to physical and emotional abuse.

In 2018, she was sentenced to death by a trial court in Yemen. Since then, her family has been fighting for her release. They approached the Yemini Supreme Court against the trial court’s order, but their appeal was rejected in 2023. Following Yemen’s President also rejecting Priya’s appeal, her release depends on securing the forgiveness of the victim’s family and their tribal leaders.

Yemeni media stated Priya killed Mahdi with the help of another person and chopped his body into pieces before dumping it into the water tank in her house. She was arrested while attempting to flee Yemen and was convicted in 2018.

There have been several attempts to save Priya. Her family and advocacy groups within the country have been working to save her life. Her mother, Prema Kumari, has been in Sanaa to negotiate with the victim’s family to secure forgiveness in exchange for “blood money." As per Yemen’s rule of law, the death penalty could only be nullified if the victim’s family agrees to pardon the culprit, often in exchange for blood money.

However, the negotiations hit a roadblock in September as Abdullah Ameer, the Indian Embassy appointed lawyer, raised a pre-negotiation fee of nearly Rs 17,12,000 ($20,000) — which he later doubled to nearly Rs 34,24,000.

Later, part of the crowdfunds raised by ‘Save Nimisha Priya International Action Council’ were used to settle the first instalment of nearly Rs 17,12,000 ($20,000). However, disagreements over fund transparency raised further complications.

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