Family of nurse on death row in Yemen pins hope on Indian govt

Uncertainty wracked the family of 34-year-old Nimisha Priya, who was sentenced to death by the Yemeni president on Monday.

Uncertainty wracked the family of 34-year-old Nimisha Priya, who was sentenced to death by the Yemeni president on Monday, but welcomed the external affairs ministry’s intervention and statement extending “all possible help” to secure her release.

Nimisha Priya, a nurse from Kerala, was sentenced to death by the trial court in Sana’a, Yemen, in 2020, for murdering a Yemeni man. (File)

From Kollengode in Palakkad district, Priya travelled to Yemen as a 19-year-old in 2008 in search of nursing jobs. In 2020, a local court in the west Asian nation found her guilty of murdering a Yemeni man, Talal Abdo Mahdi, by injecting him with sedatives. Though the country’s top judicial body greenlit the capital punishment, it left the door open for her family to seek a pardon from the victim’s family.

Tomy Thomas, Priya’s husband who works with a private firm in Coimbatore, said the Centre’s intervention was the only chance of making headway with local tribal leaders and the victim’s family.

“Unlike other countries, India doesn’t have a diplomatic presence in Yemen (due to the ongoing civil war). The delays in talks with the victim’s family and the local political leadership is primarily due to the Indian government’s absence there,” he said.

The pardon, however, crucially hinges on Mahdi’s family. As per Islamic law, an accused can be pardoned if the person’s family pays the victim’s kin “diyah”, or blood money. No deal has been struck so far.

Thomas and Save Nimisha Priya International Action Council (SNPIAC), an outfit founded in 2020 to lobby for Priya’s release, have been crowdfunding for legal recourse in Yemen over the years. So far, the council has paid $40,000 as pre-negotiation fee to a lawyer holding talks with the victim’s family.

Prior to Priya’s departure to Yemen, her mother worked as a domestic help in Kochi. Thomas previously worked as an auto rickshaw driver. He now works in a private firm in Coimbatore.

“I am hopeful that if we all stand together, we can secure her release from prison. I regularly talk with Nimisha over the phone. I tell her to be brave, to pray, to eat food on time and not to stress. I keep telling her that we are doing everything on the outside to save her life,” said Thomas, who takes care of their 12-year-old daughter.

Subhash Chandran KR, a Supreme Court lawyer who appeared for Priya’s mother Prema Kumari in the Delhi high court, said the Indian government’s intervention in the matter will help delay the execution of the death sentence and bring the victim’s family to the negotiation table.

“It is still possible to hold talks with Mahdi’s family, convince them to pardon Priya possibly in exchange for blood money and secure her release. The Indian government can help locate the tribal leaders and the victim’s family and bring them to the table for talks. The council (SNPIAC) will take care of the financial aspects of arranging the blood money,” Chandran said.

The Delhi high court last year allowed Kumari to travel to Yemen at her own risk to meet her daughter and secure her release. She travelled to Sana’a in April this year and lives at the home of a Tamil businessman who is part of the lobbying group. The Indian government currently forbids its nationals from travelling to the war-torn country.

Chandran said the lawyer in Yemen arranged by the Indian embassy in Riyadh to hold talks with the family and the tribal leaders had demanded a pre-negotiation fee of $40,000 to be paid in two installments.

“We managed to crowdfund the first installment of $20,000 and paid the advocate in Yemen via the Indian authorities in July. But we have heard nothing from him so far... To prevent the negotiations from breaking down, we sent the second installment of $20,000 last week. I hope the talks will begin,” said the advocate who is also a member of the council.

The state government has yet to comment on the matter after Yemeni President Rashad al-Alimi approved Priya’s death sentence on Monday.

Political parties in Kerala urged the central and state governments to exert pressure on Yemeni authorities to secure her return.

Leader of opposition in the Kerala assembly and Congress leader VD Satheesan told news agency ANI, “The central government as well as the state government will have to take initiative to postpone the death sentence and save her.”

Priya’s mother Prema Kumari was not available for comment.