Will Kerala nurse Nimisha get relief from the death penalty in Yemen? Indian Foreign Ministry gave this answer.
Yemen's President Rashad al-Alimi has approved the death sentence of Kerala nurse Nimisha Priya. Nimisha was found guilty of murder in Yemen. The sentence will be executed within a month. Meanwhile, the Indian Foreign Ministry's response has come and it has promised to provide all possible help to Nimisha Priya's family related to the case.
Responding to media queries regarding the case of Nimisha Priya, the official spokesperson of the Ministry of External Affairs, Randhir Jaiswal, said, "We are aware of Nimisha Priya's sentence in Yemen. We understand that Priya's family is considering relevant options. The government is providing all possible assistance in this matter." Nimisha, a resident of Palakkad in Kerala, was convicted of the murder of a Yemeni citizen Talal Abdo Mahdi in 2018 and has been lodged in Yemen's central jail since then.
How will Nimisha be released now?
Nimisha Priya's release was dependent on the victim Talal Abdo Mahdi's family and their tribal leaders agreeing to pardon her. Her mother Prema Kumari was living in Sana'a, the capital of Yemen, where she was working to get the death sentence commuted and negotiate blood money with the victim's family. She lives at the home of Samuel Jerome, an NRI social worker who coordinates the activities of the Save Nimisha Priya Action Council.
In response to media queries regarding the case of Nimisha Priya, MEA Official Spokesperson, Randhir Jaiswal says "We are aware of the sentencing of Nimisha Priya in Yemen. We understand that the family of Priya is exploring relevant options. The government is extending all… pic.twitter.com/Iw35K83AA9
— ANI (@ANI) December 31, 2024
Negotiations with the victim's family came to an abrupt halt in September when Abdullah Ameer, a lawyer appointed by the Indian embassy, demanded a pre-negotiation fee of $20,000 (approximately Rs 16.6 lakh). Ameer had said that negotiations would resume only after this fee was paid. On July 4, a cheque for $19,871 was given to the lawyer through India's foreign ministry. However, Ameer insisted on a total payment of $40,000 in two installments before negotiations could proceed.
The husband's body was chopped into pieces and thrown into the tank.
The Save Nimisha Priya International Action Council raised the first installment through crowdfunding, but later struggled to disclose to donors how the money collected was spent. Nimisha Priya, a native of Palakkad, was sentenced to death in 2017 for the murder of Yemeni national Talal Abdo Mahdi. The prosecution had found that Nimisha killed Mahdi, with whom she had started a health clinic in Sanaa and later married in July 2017. She dismembered her husband's body and dumped his parts in a tank. The motive was reportedly to take revenge for the torture allegedly inflicted on her by Mahdi. Nimisha had told the court that he had also confiscated her passport. She was arrested while trying to flee Yemen and was convicted in 2018.