India Extends Help to Nimisha Priya as Yemen Sanctions Death

India Steps In to Support Nimisha Priya Amid Yemen's Death Sentence Ruling

Written by: Supriya Kadu

Edited by: Pinky Deshmukh

Last Updated: December 31, 2024

Summary: Nimisha Priya, a Kerala nurse who was given a death sentence in Yemen for a 2017 murder, has received support from India's Ministry of External Affairs.

Kerela's nurse Nimisha Priya, who has been imprisoned since 2017 for the murder of a Yemeni national, has been given the death penalty by Yemen President Rashad al-Alimi. According to media reports, the sentence can be carried out within a month.

The Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) responded to the news on Monday by stating that India is aware of Nimisha Priya's Yemeni sentence.

MEA Spokesperson, Randhir Jaiswal, said, "We understand that the family of Priya is exploring relevant options. The government is extending all possible help in the matter."

The Yemeni President's decision stunned the family at home, who had been making efforts to save the 36-year-old from death row. Her mother, Prema Kumari, is still in Sana'a, Yemen's capital, where she visited earlier this year to negotiate reparations with the victim's family and obtain a waiver of the death penalty.

In 2017, Nimisha Priya, a trained nurse was convicted of the murder of Yemeni national Talal Abdo Mahdi. After trying to get her passport back, which he had confiscated, Priya, who had been employed in Yemen for several years, killed Mahdi. Intending to incapacitate him and reclaim the passport momentarily, she gave him a sedative injection; however, the dosage proved lethal, and he died from an overdose.

Her family has been battling for her release ever since. In 2023, they appealed the trial court's ruling to the Yemini Supreme Court, but their case was denied. Now that the nation's president had denied Priya's appeal, her release relies on getting the victim's family and tribal leaders to forgive her.