NEW DELHI: A day after Yemen President Rashad al-Alimi approved the execution of an Indian nurse convicted of murdering a Yemeni national in 2017, the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) on Tuesday stepped in saying it would extend all possible help in the matter.
Randhir Jaiswal, MEA spokesperson, said the government was aware of Nimisha Priya’s sentencing in Yemen. “We understand that Priya’s family is exploring relevant options. The government is extending all possible help,” the spokesperson said in a statement.
Hailing from Kollengode town in Kerala’s Palakkad, Priya’s execution is scheduled to take place within a month. Married with a daughter, she moved to Yemen in 2011 and there came in contact with Yemeni national Talal Abdo Mahdi.
Priya’s husband and minor daughter had to return to India in 2014 due to financial woes. The same year, Yemen was engulfed in civil war and the duo could not return as the country stopped issuing new visas.
As Yemen’s law bars foreigners from starting their own businesses unless they have local partners, Mahdi is said to have helped Priya set up a clinic in capital city Sanaa.
In 2017, Priya was convicted of murdering Mahdi even as she called it “an act of self-defence”. She alleged that Mahdi had been harassing her for money and had even seized her passport. She also alleged that he forged her documents to project himself as her husband while subjecting her to physical and emotional abuse.
In 2018, Priya was sentenced to death by a trial court. Her family has since been fighting for her release. They approached the Supreme Court too, but their appeal was rejected in 2023.
With the President turning down the appeal for clemency on December 30, her release depends on securing the forgiveness of Mahdi’s family and its tribal leaders.
Yemeni media stated that “Priya killed Mahdi with the help of another person and chopped his body into pieces before dumping it into a water tank in her house”. She was arrested while attempting to flee Yemen in 2018.
Priya’s family and advocacy groups have launched campaigns to save her while her mother, Prema Kumari, is in Sanaa to negotiate with Mahdi’s family to secure forgiveness through “blood money”. As per the Yemen law, a death penalty can be nullified only if the victim’s family agrees to pardon the culprit, often in exchange for blood money.
The negotiations to seek pardon for Priya hit a roadblock in September this year when Abdullah Ameer, the Indian Embassy-appointed lawyer, raised a pre-negotiation fee of nearly Rs 17.12 lakh, which he later doubled to nearly Rs 34.24 lakh. A portion of the amount, raised by the ‘Save Nimisha Priya International Action Council’ through crowdfunding, was used to pay the first instalment of Rs 17.12 lakh, but a disagreement over the fund transparency has complicated the matter.