Family of Yemeni murder victim calls for execution of Indian nurse

Talal Mahdi’s relatives urge justice and refuse ‘reconciliation of any kind’

Nimisha Priya, a nurse from India's Kerala state, faces the death penalty for murdering Yemeni citizen Talal Mahdi. Handout

The family of Yemeni citizen Talal Mahdi have called for the execution of an Indian nurse convicted of his murder to go ahead, after she was granted a reprieve by authorities.

Nimisha Priya, a nurse from India’s southern Kerala state, was scheduled to be executed in Sanaa on Wednesday. She was granted a postponement after a petition submitted by her family was accepted by Yemeni authorities.

She faces the death penalty for the murder of Mr Mahdi after police found his dismembered body in a water tank in 2017. She has been in jail ever since.

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Abdel Fattah Mahdi, the Yemeni national’s brother, on Wednesday described the stay of execution as an “unfortunate surprise” and said it was “only a matter of time” before a new date was set. He spoke of the family's anguish and said they would not change their stance despite the pressure they had endured over the past eight years.

“Blood cannot be bought, justice will not be forgotten and retribution will come, no matter how long the road. It is only a matter of time,” said the elder Mr Mahdi about the death penalty for Priya in a Facebook post on Wednesday.

“Our demand is clear: retribution, no more, no less, no matter what.

“The recent postponement came as an unfortunate surprise, especially considering that those who stayed the execution were fully aware of our absolute refusal of reconciliation of any kind and by any means.”

He said the family was not surprised by attempts to mediate as there had been “considerable efforts” through the years for reconciliation and this was natural.

Mr Mahdi said the family would not be deterred by delays and would “see this through until the very end”.

He also denied his younger brother had seized the nurse’s passport or exploited her and criticised the Indian media for portraying her as “the victim in an attempt to justify a crime”.

Yemeni national Talal Mahdi was killed in 2017. Photo: Abdel Fattah Mahdi/Facebook

Bridges burnt

Yemen’s public prosecution authority accepted a petition from Priya's mother Prema Kumari and Indian social worker Samuel Jerome Baskaran.

Mr Baskaran, in Sanaa with Ms Kumari to support the Indian nurse on death row, was not hopeful about the length of the postponement.

“I feel all bridges have been burnt and the work we have done has vanished into thin air,” Mr Baskaran told The National.

While initially optimistic about a breakthrough, he said negotiations were derailed by the media focus on the offer of $1 million in diya, or blood money, as compensation for Mr Mahdi’s death and a lack of sensitivity by different groups in India attempting to reach members of the Yemeni family.

“This family has lost a son, we need to be in their shoes and feel their pain,” he said.

“People in India should understand the sentiment of the people of Yemen. I asked for forgiveness and apologised to Talal’s brothers and his father when I met them. The only thing we can ask for is pardon and we tried to build trust with them. But just focusing on the blood money, this shows no respect for the family.”

Under Sharia, the only way to halt an execution is an unconditional pardon by the victim’s family or acceptance of blood money that is usually paid by the party responsible for the death.

Family’s pain

While Priya’s mother appealed for prayers so her daughter would live, the Mahdi family in Yemen has called for justice.

Mr Mahdi has told how his brother was murdered in a “gruesome manner” by the Indian national, who drugged him, cut his body into pieces, hid it in plastic bags and buried it in an underground tank.

He said the family wanted “god’s justice” to be implemented for the chilling crime.

"Retribution is inevitable," he said in a post before the execution was stayed. "The pens have been lifted, and the pages have dried. Our hearts are watchful, waiting with a mix of urgency and patience for the moment that has long been delayed.”

Lawyers for Priya said she had injected Talal Mahdi with sedatives to retrieve her passport that he had confiscated, leaving her unable to travel to India to see her husband and young daughter. Her defence was that he died accidentally of a sedative overdose.

During the trial in Yemen, Priya's lawyer alleged she was physically and mentally abused by Mr Mahdi. But his family has maintained that she was married to Mr Mahdi and denied any abuse.

A court in Sanaa sentenced her to death in 2020, an appeal from her family was rejected in 2023 by Yemen’s Supreme Judicial Council and her execution was approved in January this year.