Sanaa/New Delhi – The scheduled execution of Indian nurse Nimisha Priya in Yemen has been temporarily postponed, according to Indian foreign ministry sources, offering a short-lived window for ongoing negotiations aimed at securing her pardon through blood money.
Priya, a 34-year-old nurse from Kerala, was convicted of murdering her former Yemeni business partner, Talal Abdo Mahdi, in 2017. The gruesome nature of the crime — Mahdi’s dismembered body was found in a water tank — shocked local authorities.
Though Priya has consistently denied the murder charge, claiming she only sought to recover her passport and escape abuse, she was sentenced to death by a Yemeni court in 2020.
Her appeal to the country’s Supreme Court was rejected in 2023, and earlier this year, Yemen’s Supreme Political Council, led by Houthi president Mahdi al-Mashat, formally approved the execution.
Priya’s only remaining legal recourse under Yemen’s Islamic judicial system is to obtain a pardon from Mahdi’s family by paying diyah, or blood money. Campaigners say her family and supporters have raised over $1 million to offer to the family as compensation.
The Indian foreign ministry confirmed it had made “concerted efforts” to delay the execution, originally scheduled for 16 July, in order to buy time for Priya’s family to reach a resolution with the victim’s relatives.
However, Mahdi’s family remains firmly opposed to any reconciliation.
“Our stance on the attempts at reconciliation is clear; we insist on implementing God’s Law in Qisas [retaliation in kind], nothing else,” Mahdi’s brother, Abdelfattah Mahdi, told BBC Arabic. He accused Indian media of portraying the killer as a victim and said the family had endured years of “a horrible and heinous but obvious crime case.”
Supporters of Priya, including the Save Nimisha Priya International Action Council, argue that she was subjected to prolonged abuse and exploitation, and that the killing was not premeditated. Babu John, a member of the council, said: “We are still trying to save her. But ultimately the family has to agree for pardon.”
Priya’s mother, a domestic helper from Kerala, has been in Yemen since April to personally appeal to Mahdi’s family. She has appointed Yemen-based social worker Samuel Jerome to lead the negotiations on her behalf.
India’s foreign ministry says it continues to remain in touch with Yemeni authorities despite the complications posed by the ongoing civil war, which has fractured the country’s governance since 2011.
As Nimisha Priya remains confined in the central prison in Sanaa, her fate now hinges on a fragile diplomatic and emotional negotiation — one that could either bring a mother’s prayers to fruition or end in irreversible tragedy.