Watch: Who is Nimisha Priya and how did she end up on death row in Yemen?
Her family and activists are racing against time to save her, with just one hope left: a pardon from the victim's family. But with no diplomatic ties between India and the Houthi regime, and delays in negotiations, the clock is ticking.
Could she be executed soon? Nimisha Priya's story is tragic, complex, and deeply painful, a tale of poverty, desperation, abuse, and a fatal mistake that may now cost her life.
Script: Shikha Kumari A
Presentation: Athira Madhav
Videography: Thamodharan B
Production: Shibu Narayan
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India.com
2 hours ago
- India.com
Nimisha Priya's execution in Yemen, scheduled for today, postponed after Grand Mufti of India and Sheikh Habib of Yemen hold talks
New Delhi: The death sentence of Kerala nurse Nimisha Priya, who was sentenced to death in Yemen, has been postponed for the time being. She was to be executed by shooting today, July 16. According to media reports, activist groups and influential religious leaders intervened in the matter, after which the death sentence of Nimisha Priya was postponed. Earlier, many efforts were also made at the diplomatic level to save Nimisha from the death penalty. There is also news that the victim's family has not yet agreed to clemency or blood money. Last effort fruitful As a last-ditch effort to save her, Kanthapuram A. P. Aboobacker Musliyar is said to lead a delegation to talk to and assure the victim's family to accept blood money and pardon Priya, the only legal option left under Yemeni law to halt her execution. Who is Sheikh Abubakr Ahmad? Officially known as Sheikh Abubakr Ahmad, Kanthapuram A. P. Aboobacker Musliyar is the 10th and current Grand Mufti of India. He is also the General Secretary of the All India Sunni Jamiyyathul Ulama (the Indian Muslim Scholars Association) and General Secretary of Samastha Kerala Jem-iyyathul Ulama of AP Sunnis. How was Nimisha Priya's execution halted? Talks between religious leaders of India and Yemen continue as according to a report, Grand Mufti of India A. P. Abubakar Musliyar of Kanthapuram and famous Sufi scholar Sheikh Habib Umar bin Hafiz of Yemen are talking on this issue. The discussions also include a judge of the Supreme Court of Yemen and the brother of the deceased. Mufti Musliyar persuaded Sheikh Habib of Yemen for talks. This is also the first time that a close member of the victim's family has agreed to the talks. It has to be noted that the entire conversation is taking place under Sharia law, which gives the victim's family the legal right to forgive the culprit without any condition or in exchange for blood money. When was Nimisha Priya convicted? Thirty-seven-year-old Nimisha Priya was convicted in the 2017 murder case of her Yemeni business partner. Since then she has been on death row in Yemen's capital, Sanaa. According to Priya's legal team, she gave sedatives to Talal Abdo Mahdi to recover her passport and escape what she described as prolonged abuse. However, Mahdi died of overdose, and Priya was arrested while attempting to leave the country.
Time of India
3 hours ago
- Time of India
Signal scandal: Pentagon probes Pete Hegseth aides; leaks, clearance lapses flagged
Pete Hegseth (AP) Two of the Pentagon's leading investigative agencies are examining the involvement of two close aides to defence secretary Pete Hegseth in a controversy over the use of the Signal app for discussing sensitive government matters, according to three sources familiar with the investigations, as reported by Politico. An investigation was initially opened in early April by the defence department inspector general's office to look into whether Hegeseth breached the agency's standards for sharing classified information by using the Signal app to discuss active attack plans in Yemen. The Signal app, a commercial messaging app, is not approved by the US government to discuss classified information due to security concerns. The Pentagon's investigations into the two senior aides to Hegseth had not been publicly disclosed until now. As part of the investigation, officials are looking into whether Ricky Buria, a senior aide of Hegseth, had allowed him to use the app, circumventing security protocols, as per three people recently interviewed by officials. A separate inquiry is being carried out by the Air Force Office of Special Investigators (OSI), a federal law agency under the Pentagon, to investigate whether Buria could have been a potential source of leaks earlier this year when, as a military aide, he attended sensitive meetings and had access to Hegseth's devices, as per the three people, reports Politico. OSI is also looking into whether Tim Parlatore, Hegseth's personal attorney and a senior adviser at the Department of Defence, attended meetings where classified information was discussed despite not having the necessary security clearance. 'Ricky and Tim are some of the folks that they're zeroing in on as they try to get to the root of everything,' said an individual familiar with the investigations. Hegseth had allegedly created a second chat on the Signal app, which included his wife Jennifer, as well as his brother Phil Hegseth where he shared similar details of a military strike against Yemen's Houthi militants similar to those sent in a separate chain with senior Trump administration officials, reported the New York Times earlier this year. He had allegedly also used a commercial internet line known as 'dirty line' in IT terms to circumvent standard defence security measures and access encrypted messaging platforms like Signal, a source was quoted as saying by AP in April. Investigators have inquired about the security vulnerabilities of the Signal app, the extent of Hegseth's use of it, and the accuracy of the messages. The IG and OSI have asked witnesses if they were ever told to delete Signal messages from their phones, according to two sources. Such actions could break federal records laws like the Presidential Records Act and the Federal Records Act. These laws can lead to civil or administrative penalties, and in more serious cases, officials could face fines or jail time for deleting classified information or government records. 'Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth has successfully reoriented the Department of Defense to put the interests of America's Warfighters and America's taxpayers first, and it has never been better positioned to execute on its mission than it is today,' stated Chief Pentagon spokesperson in an email. 'The success speaks for itself,' he added, as reported by Politico. The Pentagon did not comment on the investigation of Hegseth or his aides at the defence department. Buria and Parlatore also did not comment on the ongoing probe.
The Print
4 hours ago
- The Print
Day before her execution, a ray of hope for Kerala nurse Nimisha Priya in Yemen
'It's good news that they have stayed the order. And it gives us some breathing time to initiate negotiations,' Advocate Subhash Chandran K.R, a member of the Save Nimisha Priya International Action Council, told ThePrint. This comes a day after Kanthapuram A. P. Aboobacker Musliyar, the general secretary of the All India Sunni Jamiyyathul Ulama and chancellor of Jamia Markaz, initiated a new mediation effort through his long-time friend and Yemeni Sufi Islamic scholar Sheikh Habib Umar bin Hafiz. Thiruvananthapuram: The execution of Kerala nurse Nimisha Priya, who is on death row in Yemen since 2020, was postponed Tuesday, a day before the scheduled date. Subhash said the amount of blood money—monetary compensation offered to the family of a murdered person—and further proceedings will be decided in the upcoming days. Hailing from Kerala's Palakkad district, Priya was convicted of murdering Yemeni national Talal Abdo Mahdi in 2017. He was her partner in setting up a clinic in the Yemeni capital city of Sana'a in 2015. Mahdi began embezzling money and torturing Priya soon after the clinic was set up, according to the Save Nimisha Priya International Action Council. He also seized her passport and other documents. The nurse then attempted to sedate him in order to retrieve the documents, and he died of an overdose in the process, it has been alleged. The council was formed in September 2020 by a group of non-resident Keralites in different parts of India and abroad with the objective to ensure 'access of justice' to Priya and to raise funds through donations for paying blood money. Sana'a, where she is imprisoned, is under Houthi control, complicating the matter. The central government informed the Supreme Court Monday it cannot do anything further in the matter. 'There is nothing much the government can do. Looking at the sensitivity of Yemen, it's not diplomatically recognised. Blood money is a private negotiation,' Attorney General R. Venkataramani, representing the Centre, told the court. Reacting to the news of the execution being postponed, Thiruvananthapuram MP and former UN diplomat Shashi Tharoor said interventions have been taking place since 2020. 'Although India has an embassy in Yemen, due to the political and security situation in the country, the Indian embassy in Sana'a has been functioning temporarily from a camp office in Djibouti since April 2015. Because of this, our diplomatic efforts have so far not been successful,' he wrote on social media Tuesday. He also lauded Kanthapuram A. P. Aboobacker Musliyar's efforts. 'At a time like today, when efforts are being made to divide people in the name of religion and community and to spread hatred and animosity, the respected Kanthapuram Ustad is showing us that humanity is of the utmost importance,' Tharoor wrote. Also Read: Appeal rejected, Indian nurse on death row in Yemen has 2 options: President's pardon or 'blood money' The case and the family A trained nurse, Priya moved to Yemen in 2008 with her husband to work at a private hospital in Sana'a. After working for a few years, her husband and minor daughter returned to India in 2014 due to financial issues. They were unable to go back because of the civil war in Yemen and visa restrictions. At present, her husband works as an auto-rickshaw driver, and her 12-year-old daughter lives in a convent in their native place. In 2015, Priya joined hands with Mahdi to set up her own clinic in Sana'a, since Yemeni law mandates no clinic or businesses can be opened without a local partner. A petition filed by the council earlier this month in the Supreme Court, seeking the Centre's intervention to facilitate diplomatic negotiations with the victim's family, states that Mahdi accompanied Priya to Kerala in 2015 when she came on a month-long holiday. At that time, he stole a wedding photograph of Priya, which he later manipulated to claim he was married to her. The petition also alleges that Mahdi started cornering all the revenue after the clinic was set up. 'He became hostile when Nimisha questioned him about the embezzlement. He later threatened her, forged documents to claim that she was married to him as per his religion, and brutally tortured her,' the petition states. It further alleges that Mahdi manipulated ownership documents and took money from her monthly earnings, claiming she was his wife. Later, Mahdi seized her passport, physically tortured and threatened her at gunpoint on multiple occasions under the influence of drugs, the document states. The petition also states that Priya was put in jail for six days when she tried to complain against him. In July 2017, following advice from a warden of a jail near her clinic, where Mahdi had previously been imprisoned, Priya planned to sedate him to retrieve her documents. 'However, sedation did not affect Mr. Mahdi, who was a substance abuser. She tried sedating him again, using a stronger sedative to retrieve her passport, but he died within a few minutes due to a drug overdose,' it says. After her sentencing by a trial court in 2020, she filed appeals against the death penalty, which were dismissed both by the first appellate court and by the Supreme Judicial Council of Yemen. 'What we understood is that there was huge pressure from tribal groups on the family not to give her a pardon. That is why they weren't coming forward. Yesterday, Kanthapuram Musliyar's involvement made it easier to talk to the cleric,' the petition said. It added Priya was forced to sign confessional documents at the beginning, which complicated the case. 'She didn't know it was a confession. She didn't have anyone to help her, no lawyer to defend her. The political situation was also such that there was an ongoing civil war. She was forced to sign those.' (Edited by Ajeet Tiwari) Also Read: Will do whatever we can, says Iranian official on Nimisha Priya, nurse facing death sentence in Yemen
