An Indian nurse convicted of murdering her Yemeni business partner is slated to be executed on 16 July, according to a negotiator involved in last-ditch efforts to save her life.
Nimisha Priya, 38, from the southern Indian state of Kerala, was sentenced to death in 2020 for the killing of Talal Abdo Mehdi, a Yemeni national who co-owned a clinic with her in Sanaa.
The sentence was upheld by the Supreme Judicial Council in 2023.
Priya has been lodged in a prison in Sanaa since her arrest in 2017.
She was convicted of injecting Mr Mehdi with sedatives in a bid to retrieve her passport, which he had allegedly confiscated. The dose proved fatal.
Yemeni law punishes murder by death, as it does drug trafficking, apostasy, adultery, and same-sex relations. The Arab nation, however, allows a murder convict to be pardoned by the victim’s kin in exchange for diyat, or “blood money”.
Samuel Jerome Baskaran, a social worker who has been negotiating on behalf of the nurse with Yemeni officials and the victim’s family, confirmed the imminent execution. “The public prosecutor had issued the letter of prosecution to the jail authorities. The execution is scheduled for July 16. Options are still open. The government of India can intervene in the matter to save her life,” he was quoted as saying by the Indian Express.
He was returning to Yemen to resume the negotiations after a prior offer to the victim’s family went unanswered. “We had made an offer to the family during the last meeting. So far, they have not responded,” Mr Baskaran said.
Priya moved to Yemen in 2008 and eventually launched a clinic in partnership with Mr Mehdi, in line with Yemeni law that required foreign entrepreneurs to collaborate with citizens.
Her family previously alleged that Priya faced mental, physical and financial abuse at his hands. She had even filed a police complaint against him in 2016, leading to his brief arrest. He allegedly resumed threatening her after getting out.
India’s foreign ministry said it had been tracking the case closely since Priya’s conviction in 2018. “We have been in regular touch with local authorities and her family members and rendered all possible assistance,” a source was quoted as saying by the Press Trust of India.
The ministry continues to explore options for intervention despite limited diplomatic engagement with the Houthis, who rule most of Yemen.
The nurse’s mother, Prema Kumari, a domestic worker in Kochi city, has been in Yemen for the past year trying to save her daughter.
In December, she moved the Delhi High Court for exemption from the Indian travel advisory barring citizens from visiting the conflict-ridden Yemen. She has visited her daughter several times in prison.
In an emotional appeal earlier this year, Ms Kumari said: “I am deeply grateful to the Indian and Kerala governments, as well as the committee formed to save her, for all the support provided so far. But this is my final plea – please help us save her life. Time is running out.”
Priya is the latest Indian citizen facing the death penalty in the Gulf. At least three Indians were executed in the UAE earlier this year.
