Hectic Last-Minute Talks Underway in Yemen to Save Kerala Nurse from Execution

NEW DELHI/PALAKKAD:
With just hours left for the scheduled execution of Kerala nurse Nimisha Priya in Yemen, frantic last-minute negotiations are underway to secure a reprieve.

Priya is currently lodged in a jail in Yemen, facing the death penalty for the alleged murder of her former business partner, Talal Abdo Mehdi, in 2017.

The talks involve the local Chief Justice of the Yemeni court, a senior cleric from the influential Shoora Council, and members of Mehdi’s family.

According to a member of the village council in Palakkad, Priya’s hometown, discussions have begun with the hope that Mehdi’s family will agree to accept blood money — a provision in Islamic law that could allow her execution, scheduled for Wednesday, to be deferred or cancelled.

Kerala Governor Rajendra V. Arlekar also intervened and spoke to the officials of the Ministry of External Affairs on Tuesday.

A Kerala billionaire, M.A. Yusuf Ali, has expressed his willingness to chip in with whatever financial support is needed.

Efforts to intervene further gained momentum, thanks to Kerala’s Grand Mufti, Kanthapuram A.P. Aboobacker Musliyar, who reportedly reached out to a friend in Yemen’s Shoora Council to help mediate.

Since the announcement of the execution date, politicians across party lines in Kerala have appealed to the Union government and the President of India for urgent intervention. Priya’s husband, Tomy Thomas, and their young daughter have also been actively campaigning for her release.

The matter was heard in the Supreme Court of India on Monday, where the court said that there is nothing much the government can do to save the Kerala nurse.

Nimisha Priya moved to Yemen in 2008 to support her family and initially worked as a nurse before opening her own clinic. In 2017, following a dispute with Mehdi — her business partner — she allegedly administered sedatives to him in a bid to retrieve her confiscated passport. The sedatives proved fatal.

She was arrested while attempting to flee the country and was convicted of murder in 2018. A death sentence was handed down in 2020 and upheld by Yemen’s Supreme Judicial Council in November 2023. However, the court allowed the possibility of clemency through a blood money arrangement.

The case has sparked national and international concern, underscoring the vulnerability of Indian migrant workers in conflict-ridden regions. Priya’s mother, Prema Kumari, has played a central role in the campaign to save her daughter, even travelling to Sanaa to try and negotiate directly with the victim’s family.

She is being supported by a coalition of NRI activists and social workers operating under the Save Nimisha Priya International Action Council.