Family of Indian nurse on death row in Yemen hope for ‘miracle’ pardon

Nimisha Priya’s supporters pin hopes on victim's family accepting diya or blood money

Nimisha Priya, a nurse from Palakkad in Kerala, was convicted of murdering and dismembering her business partner Talal Mahdi in 2017. Photo: Handout

Indian nurse Nimisha Priya is set to be executed in Sanaa on Wednesday over the murder of a Yemeni citizen, even as her family races to secure a last-minute pardon from the victim’s relatives.

Legal and diplomatic options have run out for the nurse, 34, from Kerala state in southern India, with a final hearing in the Supreme Court in New Delhi held on Monday.

A petition filed by the Save Nimisha Priya International Action Council had asked the Indian government to intervene to stop the execution, set for Wednesday in Yemen.

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India’s attorney general told the Delhi court the government had done its best and that, diplomatically, there was nothing more authorities could do. India has no diplomatic ties with Yemen, with a travel ban in place since the outbreak of civil war in 2014.

Blood money as final prayer

The Indian nurse faces the death sentence over the murder of Talal Mahdi, also her business partner, after his dismembered body was discovered in a water tank in 2017.

She has been in jail in Sanaa for the past eight years and her family’s hopes are tied to Mr Mahdi’s family accepting diya, or blood money, that would prevent the execution.

“We are hoping and praying some miracle will happen in the next two days,” Deepa Joseph, a lawyer in India and vice-chairwoman of the Save Nimisha Priya International Action Council, told The National.

“The coming moments are crucial, the next days will be critical as the final order of the prosecution is for execution on July 16.”

The group was formed five years ago and works as a legal and humanitarian campaign to mobilise support for Ms Priya.

Diya money is typically paid to the heirs of the deceased by the party found responsible for causing the death. Under Sharia, the only way to stop the execution is a pardon from the victim’s family and acceptance of diya money.

“The blood money is the only remedy now,” said Ms Joseph, who is in contact with Ms Priya. "Her last message to me was: ‘Ma’am, please tell everyone to pray for me, please try to save me.’”

Ms Priya’s supporters hope 11th-hour talks with the victim’s family will come through.

Family and supporters of Indian nurse Nimisha Priya hope for a miracle pardon to stay her execution in Yemen. Nimisha's mother Prema Kumari and lawyer Deepa Joseph seen in this picture. Courtesy: Deepa Joseph

Supporters had raised $40,000 through crowdfunding and the money was sent in two instalments to Yemen to lawyers hired by the Indian government to negotiate over details of the case.

Her family this month offered another $1 million as a final clemency plea to save her life. Funds were donated by business leaders, the community in Kerala and from overseas, including the UAE and other Gulf nations.

Ms Joseph was at the Supreme Court hearing in Delhi on Monday and acknowledged most options had run out.

“The attorney general is right, the Indian government has done everything possible,” she said. "The government appointed an attorney and allowed Nimisha’s mother to travel to Yemen.

“Before this we were in crisis because there is no Indian embassy in Yemen, so sending money was difficult and the government helped facilitate us getting the money to Yemen.”

Prema Kumari, Ms Priya’s mother, was granted permission by the Delhi High Court to travel to Yemen. She has been in Sanaa since last year and has seen her daughter a few times in jail.

Case details

Ms Priya was 19 when she went to Yemen to work as a nurse in 2008.

Her lawyer, during the trial in Yemen, had alleged that Mr Mahdi had abused her physically and mentally, and had confiscated her passport so she was unable to travel to India for years. The lawyer argued that so she could retrieve her passport, she injected Mr Mahdi with sedatives, leading to his death from an accidental overdose.

A court in Sanaa sentenced her to death in 2020. Her family challenged the decision but their appeal was rejected in 2023 by Yemen’s Supreme Judicial Council.

Mahdi Al-Mashat, president of the Yemen’s rebel Houthi Supreme Political Council, approved the execution in January.

Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan has written to Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi to intervene.

Ms Priya comes from a modest background and her mother works as a housemaid in Kerala. She left India to work in a government-run hospital in Sanaa hoping to change her family’s fortunes.

She returned to India to marry Tomi Thomas, an autorickshaw driver, in 2011 and the couple now have a daughter, 13.

The couple lived in Yemen for a while but Mr Thomas later returned to India with their daughter. Ms Priya took a loan and opened a clinic in Yemen with Mr Mahdi, as she was legally required to have a Yemini partner for the business.

In a petition filed in the Delhi High Court, the Save Nimisha Priya International Action Council alleged Mr Mahdi had kept her passport, threatened her with a gun and seized money made by the clinic.

When Mr Mahdi’s body was found by Sanaa police in 2017, Ms Priya was charged with killing him and chopping up his body.

“I’m not saying this is not a crime, I’m not justifying it or saying she is innocent,” Ms Joseph said.

“This is not the time to say she is wrong or he was wrong. But for the last eight years, she has been in jail and facing news of her death each and every day. For any person, that is also a penalty.”