Nimisha Priya's Execution Deferred: Not Blood Money, This Is How Kerala Nurse Got Temporary Reprieve
Nimisha Priya, hailing from Kollengode in Kerala's Palakkad district, was found guilty of murdering a Yemeni citizen and her business partner, Talal Abdo Mahdi, in July 2017
The execution of Nimisha Priya, an Indian nurse on death row in Yemen, has been deferred from Wednesday, government sources said on Tuesday. However, the fresh date for her execution was not immediately known.
Priya, hailing from Kollengode in Kerala's Palakkad district, was found guilty of murdering a Yemeni citizen and her business partner, Talal Abdo Mahdi, in July 2017. In 2020, a Yemeni court handed her the death sentence and the country's Supreme Judicial Council dismissed her appeal in November 2023. The government of India has made concerted efforts in recent days to seek more time for Priya's family to reach a 'mutually agreeable" solution with the other party, they said.
The 38-year-old nurse is presently lodged in a jail in Sana'a, the Yemeni capital city that is under the control of Iran-backed Houthis.
Airline consultant and social worker Samuel Jerome Baskaran, who has been leading the negotiations in Yemen to secure Priya's release, said the decision did not involve the family of Talal Abdo Mahdi. Baskaran told The Indian Express that the decision came after Abdul Malik Al Nehaya, ruler of the Al Wasab region, met Yemeni President Rashad al-Alimi on Friday. A day later, al-Alimi consented to defer the execution. 'The Indian government also got involved in this mission. There was a directive from the Yemen authorities not to disclose the details," he told IE.
Baskaran said the President's order reached the prosecutor on Monday. Subsequently, the public prosecutor of the Republic of Yemen on July 14 issued an order to the director of the central correctional facility, saying that based on the direction of the attorney general, the execution of the retaliation sentence against Priya is postponed.
Blood money option
Under Sharia law, which is followed in Yemen, a murder conviction doesn't always result in a mandatory execution. Instead, the law allows for a provision known as Diyah, or blood money. It enables the victim's heirs to pardon the murderer if they choose to accept monetary compensation.
The amount is negotiable and varies depending on the nature of the crime, local customs, and the family's stance. In Nimisha's case, a staggering offer of $1 million (approximately Rs 8.5 crore) has reportedly been made to Mahdi's family by the Save Nimisha Priya International Action Council. So far, there has been no official response.
'The final step to stop the execution is the consent from the Talal family. The key to Nimisha's life rests with the family of Talal. They have to forgive her and our job is to convince the family to forgive her," Baskaran told IE.
Doing whatever is possible: Centre to SC
The government on Monday informed the Supreme Court that it was doing whatever was 'utmost possible" to save the Indian nurse from execution.
It also informed the top court that 'nothing much" could be done keeping in view the status of Yemen.
'There is a point up to which the Government of India can go and we have reached that point," attorney general R Venkataramani informed a bench of Justices Vikram Nath and Sandeep Mehta.
The top law officer said the government was keen to save its citizens and was doing 'utmost possible" in the matter.
Samuel, who had also helped evacuate Indians from Yemen in 2015, is in Yemen to resume the negotiations.
With Inputs from PTI
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