Nimisha Priya execution: More bad news for Kerala nurse as now Yemeni family demands…

Trouble for Nimisha Priya, whose execution has been postponed, is far from over. Priya’s death sentence was scheduled to be carried out on Wednesday. But was postponed following the intervention of Kerala-based Islamic scholar Sheikh Abubakr Ahmad, Grand Mufti.

However, the way forward is not easy for the Indian nurse. The family of her former business partner, Talal Abdo Mahdi, remains steadfast in their demand for the strict application of God’s Law in Qisas.

The government of India has made concerted efforts in recent days to seek more time for Priya’s family to reach a “mutually agreeable” solution with the other party, they said. In 2020, a Yemeni court handed her the death sentence and the country’s Supreme Judicial Council dismissed her appeal in November 2023.

The 38-year-old nurse is currently lodged in a jail in Sana’a, the Yemeni capital city that is under the control of Iran-backed Houthis.

Priya’s mother Premakumari travelled to Yemen last year as part of efforts to secure her release.

The Indian side had even explored the option of securing Priya’s release through “diyat” or paying “blood money”. But that also ran into some problems, it is learnt.

What the victim’s family is alleging?

Abdelfattah Mehdi, brother of Talal Abdo Mehdi, has asserted that there can be no pardon for the crime. He also expressed firmly the family’s deep displeasure in the manner in which the Indian media has been “distorting things to portray the convicted as a victim”.

News