Kerala nurse will be hanged in Yemen, all efforts of the family failed... know why this happened

What happened to nurse Nimisha Priya who went to Yemen from Kerala to earn money, due to which the nurse who was dreaming of opening her own clinic ended up on the gallows?

An Indian nurse living in Yemen has been sentenced to death. Yemen's President Rashad al-Alimi has approved the death sentence of nurse Nimisha Priya. Neither could the blood money be negotiated nor could she get a pardon from the President. Nimisha has been serving a jail sentence since 2017 for the murder of a Yemeni citizen. According to media reports, her death sentence will be executed within a month. The Ministry of External Affairs said on Monday that India is aware of the punishment being given to Nimisha Priya in Yemen.

India said it will help in every possible way

Foreign Ministry spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal said, "We know Nurse Priya's family is looking for relevant options. The government is helping them in every possible way in this matter." The decision of the Yemeni President is a setback for the family, which was trying to save its 36-year-old daughter from the death penalty. Nurse Priya's 57-year-old mother Prema Kumari reached Yemen's capital Sanaa earlier this year. Since then, she was reportedly negotiating with the victim's family to get a remission in her daughter's death penalty and blood money.

No agreement on blood money

In September last year, Abdullah Amir, a lawyer appointed by the Indian Embassy in Sana'a, the capital of Yemen, demanded immediate payment of the second instalment of the pre-negotiation fee (Rs 16.60 lakh) to start negotiations. The efforts to secure release stalled when he was told that negotiations would begin only after the amount was transferred. On July 4, the first instalment of $19,871 was handed over to the lawyer through the Indian Foreign Ministry. The lawyer had initially said that a total of $40,000 was needed to start negotiations and it should be paid in two installments.

The Save Nimisha Priya Action Council had deposited Rs 16.71 lakh in the Ministry of External Affairs' account in June last year to negotiate her release. Nimisha Priya's mother Premkumari had also sought permission to transfer $40,000 through the embassy's bank account to negotiate a deal for her daughter's release. This request was approved by the Ministry of External Affairs.

Nimisha's mother had gone to Yemen to get her daughter released

Nimisha Priya, a native of Palakkad district, was sentenced to death for the murder of a Yemeni national named Talal Abdo Mehdi. The incident took place in 2017. Nimisha's mother Premkumari had gone to Yemen to meet the family of the deceased Yemeni national and ensure her daughter's release. 

Know about Nimisha Priya's case

Nurse Nimisha Priya was found guilty of killing Yemeni citizen Talal Abdo Mahdi in 2017. She was sentenced to death by a trial court in Yemen a year later. The nurse's family has been struggling with the release of their daughter since then. They also approached the Supreme Court of Yemen against the order of the trial court. However, their appeal was rejected in the year 2023. Now the President of Yemen has also rejected their appeal. The nurse's release was dependent on securing forgiveness from the victim's family and their tribal leaders.

Who is Nimisha Priya?

Nimisha Priya is a resident of Palakkad in Kerala. She is a nurse by profession. She worked in private hospitals in Yemen for a few years. Her husband and minor daughter returned to India in 2014 due to financial reasons. That same year, Yemen was hit by civil war, due to which new visas were stopped and both of them could not go back to Nimisha.  

In 2015, Nimisha Priya sought support from her partner Talal Abdo Mahdi to build her clinic in Sanaa, as according to Yemeni law, only citizens are allowed to open clinics and business firms. But the two had a quarrel. The nurse's family says that Abdo had misappropriated the funds. Nimisha had opposed this. According to reports, Abdo had confiscated Nimisha's passport and also stole her wedding photos. He was claiming to be married to the nurse by manipulating the photos. 

Nurse Nimisha injected Abdo with anaesthesia to get his passport. But he died due to an overdose of the medicine. Nimisha was arrested while trying to escape from Yemen. She was convicted of murder in 2018. She was sentenced to death in 2020. Yemen's Supreme Judicial Council rejected her appeal in November 2023. After that, the only option left for her was blood money.

PC:JBT