Nimisha Priya death row: Govt extending all help, says MEA

Government of India provides assistance to Nimisha Priya on death row in Yemen, says Ministry of External Affairs.

The Government of India is extending all help for Malayali nurse Nimisha Priya, who is on death row at the Central prison in Yemen’s capital Sanaa, the Ministry for External Affairs said on Tuesday (December 31, 2024).

Also read:On a journey fraught with danger to save her daughter on death row

“We are aware of the sentencing of Ms. Nimisha Priya in Yemen. We understand that the family of Ms. Priya is exploring relevant options. The government is extending all possible help in the matter”, MEA Spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal.

A native of Palakkad, Nimisha was imprisoned for the alleged murder of Talal Abdo Mehdi, a Yemeni national in July 2017. She was sentenced to death by a trial court in Sanaa in 2020 and the Yemen’s Supreme Judicial Council had dismissed her appeal in November 2023 while keeping the option of paying blood money open. 

A native of Kollengode in Palakkad district, Nimisha had left for Yemen in 2008 to help her parents, who were daily-wage labourers. She worked in a few hospitals in Yemen before deciding to start her own clinic in 2015. The family said that differences cropped up with Mahdi, her local partner, after she questioned him about the alleged embezzlement of funds. She allegedly injected him with sedatives in an attempt to reclaim her passport that he had confiscated and an overdose resulted in his death.

The family members and well-wishers of Nimisha Priya remain hopeful of her release despite reports that Rashad al-Alimi, President of Yemen, has given the nod for her execution.

Samuel Jerome Bhaskaran, a member of the ‘Save Nimisha Priya International Council’ who has been working in Yemen for over 24 years and co-ordinating the efforts to release her, told The Hindu from Yemen on Monday that the death penalty can be waived, if the victim’s family agreed to pardon her in exchange for blood money.