24 Hours To Execution, Big Relief For Kerala Nurse Nimisha Priya In Yemen

The execution of Nimisha Priya has been postponed with hectic parleys underway in Yemen in a last-ditch effort to save the nurse from Kerala who was sentenced to death by local authorities for killing a man who was harassing her.

Ms Priya's execution was scheduled for tomorrow, but it has now emerged that the murdered man's family has been convinced to postpone it at least for tomorrow. This does not mean she would be released or sent back to India.

She is currently in Sanaa, the Houthi-held capital of Yemen. India does not have any diplomatic relations with the Houthi rebels.

The Indian government had asserted yesterday that it had done everything within its limits to stop the execution, suggesting 'blood money' is likely the last option that Ms Priya can avail to evade death.

Read: Can 'Blood Money' Save Kerala Nurse Nimisha Priya? Has It Saved Indians Before?

The government, which has been providing all possible assistance in the matter, had made concerted efforts in recent days to seek more time for the family of Nimisha Priya to reach a mutually agreeable solution with the victim's family, said sources.

Despite the sensitivities involved, Indian officials had been in regular touch with the local jail authorities and the prosecutor's office, leading to securing this postponement, they added.

Nimisha Priya had taken up the role of a nurse in Yemen in 2008 while looking for a lucrative job to support her parents back in Kerala. She initially worked in hospitals but later opened her own clinic. And to comply with the local law, she took on board a local business partner named Talal Abdol Mehdi, 37.

Mehdi, however, started harassing her. He stole her money and snatched her passport, practically stopping her from leaving the country. With no other option to escape him, Ms Priya had injected him with a sedative in 2017, planning to recover her passport after he lost consciousness. Mehdi, however, died, and Ms Priya was arrested while trying to flee Yemen.

Blog | The Longest Fight: The Unseen Struggles To Save Nimisha Priya In Yemen

The government had earlier appointed a Yemeni lawyer to represent her in the local courts, but all her petitions were dismissed, said Babu John, an activist leading efforts on behalf of the nurse on death row. In 2023, Yemen's Supreme Judicial Council upheld her conviction, following which the country's President approved her death sentence, he said.

The Indian government yesterday described it as a "very complex case", with Attorney General R Venkataramani telling the Supreme Court, "There is not much that the Indian government can do...we tried whatever was possible."

"The only way is if the family (of the Yemeni man) agrees to accept the 'blood money'," he said, referring to the financial compensation mentioned in the Quran that must be paid to the family of a murdered person for pardon.

The murdered person's family reserves the right to accept or reject this 'blood money'. Ms Priya cannot be executed if the 'blood money' is accepted by the murdered man's family, as per the Islamic law.