Indian nurse's death sentence in Yemen not overturned: sources
'Information being shared by certain individuals on the Nimisha Priya case is inaccurate,' the sources said, refuting claims that the Yemeni authorities had cancelled her capital punishment.
The clarification came shortly after a statement from the office of the Indian Grand Mufti claimed that the death sentence had been revoked following a high-level meeting in Sanaa. "The death sentence of Nimisha Priya, which was previously suspended, has been overturned," the Mufti's office said earlier, suggesting that a decision had been made to cancel the suspended sentence entirely.
However, sources familiar with the matter dismissed this account, asserting that no such formal cancellation has been confirmed by Yemeni authorities.
Nimisha Priya, a 37-year-old nurse from Kerala, had moved to Yemen in 2008 in pursuit of better employment opportunities. In 2015, she entered into a partnership with a Yemeni national, Talal Abdo Mahdi, to establish a medical clinic—an arrangement necessitated by Yemeni laws prohibiting foreign ownership of businesses.
What began as a professional collaboration, however, soon turned into a harrowing ordeal.
According to Priya's family, Mahdi used a doctored wedding photograph taken during a trip to India to falsely claim he was married to her. He then reportedly took over the clinic, seized her earnings, and subjected her to ongoing abuse — ranging from physical assault and drug-induced attacks to the confiscation of her passport to restrict her movements.
Her attempts to seek help allegedly led to her being briefly jailed, rather than being protected by law enforcement. Desperate to escape, Nimisha reportedly attempted to sedate Mahdi to retrieve her passport. However, the dosage proved fatal, leading to his death by overdose.
She was subsequently arrested and convicted of murder, receiving a death sentence under Yemeni law.
The case has drawn widespread attention in India and abroad, with human rights advocates and government representatives seeking diplomatic avenues for clemency. Although her sentence had previously been suspended, hopes that it would be overturned appear premature based on the latest clarifications from official sources.
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