Nimisha Priya execution: Yemeni victim's ‘unrelenting’ family refusing to accept blood money offered?

As reports circulate that Indian nurse Nimisha Priya—convicted of murdering Yemeni citizen Talal Abdo Mehdi—is set to be executed on July 16, a trusted source told THE WEEK that Mehdi’s family remains “unrelenting” in accepting the blood money offered.

 

The development comes after a Yemen-based Indian social worker involved in the negotiations claimed that the chairman of Yemen’s prisons had confirmed that Priya’s execution order had been received at the jail and that he had informed the Indian Embassy in Saudi Arabia.

 

The social worker had earlier claimed that a “package” with a million dollars in blood money along with assistance to help Mehdi’s brother relocate to the UAE or Saudi Arabia, plus certain other medical services, had been offered to the family. He also claimed to have secured donors to fund the blood money.

 

However, advocate Subhash Chandran, who is representing Priya from India and is part of the action council, says that when he contacted the Indian Embassy in Riyadh and the MEA in Delhi, both said that they have not received any official communication regarding the date of execution. “There are claims that Indian Embassy officials went to the jail and verified. If that’s the case, the Indian Embassy must be aware of it,” he said.

 

A native of Palakkad, Priya was sentenced to capital punishment by a trial court in 2020. Yemen's Supreme Judicial Council upheld the verdict in November 2023, leaving room for a possible reprieve only through blood money.

 

In an effort to save Priya, the action council had already collected $40,000 and it was handed over to the Indian Embassy to be given to the Yemeni negotiator. According to Chandran, the money was handled on the Yemeni side by the social worker who now claims that Priya’s execution date is fixed. Chandran added that there has been little feedback on how this money was spent and said that he is unaware whether any part of it was handed over to Mehdi’s family.

 

There are also indications that after questions were raised on how the $40,000 was spent, a rift developed and the social worker stopped communicating with the action council.

India