The Yemeni President Rashad al-Alimi has recently approved the death sentence for Indian nurse Nimisha Priya, who has been serving a prison sentence since 2017 for the murder of a Yemeni national. The shocking decision has sent ripples of distress through Nimisha’s family back in India, who have been tirelessly working to save her from death row.
Nimisha Priya was found guilty of killing Talal Abdo Mahdi, a Yemeni national, in 2017 and was subsequently sentenced to death by a trial court in Yemen. Despite her family’s efforts to appeal the decision, including approaching the Yemeni Supreme Court, their pleas were rejected, leaving Nimisha’s fate in the hands of the victim’s family and their tribal leaders.
Nimisha’s mother, Prema Kumari, has been in Sana’a, Yemen’s capital, since earlier this year, trying to negotiate the blood money with the victim’s family in hopes of securing forgiveness and sparing her daughter from the death penalty. However, negotiations hit a roadblock when the lawyer appointed by the Indian Embassy demanded a hefty pre-negotiation fee, causing talks to come to a halt.
The Save Nimisha Priya International Action Council launched a crowdfunding campaign to raise the required funds, but faced challenges in ensuring transparency to donors about the fund’s usage. Despite successfully raising the first installment of the lawyer’s fee, further complications arose, delaying the progress in securing Nimisha’s release.
Nimisha Priya, a trained nurse from Palakkad, Kerala, had been working in private hospitals in Yemen before the civil war broke out in 2014, forcing her husband and daughter to return to India. In 2015, she sought Mahdi’s assistance to set up her clinic in Sana’a, as only Yemeni nationals were allowed to establish businesses under the country’s laws.
However, Mahdi exploited Nimisha’s trust and manipulated the ownership documents of the clinic, embezzling funds and claiming to be married to her. The situation escalated to physical abuse and harassment, leading Nimisha to seek help from the authorities. Tragically, her attempt to retrieve her passport from Mahdi using sedatives resulted in his accidental death due to a drug overdose.
The Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) has been actively involved in the case, providing assistance to Nimisha’s family and monitoring the situation closely. The government is committed to exploring all possible options to ensure Nimisha’s safety and well-being during this challenging time.
As the countdown to the execution of the death sentence looms, Nimisha Priya’s fate hangs in the balance, with her family and supporters continuing to fight for justice and mercy in a desperate bid to save her life.
