Hectic efforts on to prevent execution of Indian nurse Nimisha Priya in Yemen on July 16

Nimisha Priya was arrested in July 2017 for murdering a Yemeni man, her business partner, and sentenced to death by a Yemeni court in 2020

Updated on: Jul 9, 2025, 07:41:57 IST

By Rezaul H Laskar

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NEW DELHI: Indian officials are engaged in hectic efforts to prevent the execution of Nimisha Priya, an Indian on death row in Yemen for murdering a Yemeni national whose death sentence is set to be carried out on July 16, people familiar with the matter said on Tuesday.

Priya, who hails from Kerala's Palakkad district, is currently lodged in a jail in the country's capital city of Sana'a. (Hindustan Times)

Priya was arrested in July 2017 for murdering a Yemeni man who was her business partner. She was sentenced to death by a Yemeni court in 2020 and the Supreme Judicial Council dismissed Priya’s appeal in November 2023. She is currently in a jail in Sana’a, which is under the control of Houthi rebels.

Noting that Priya was convicted of murder and a Yemeni court had handed her the death sentence, the people said on condition of anonymity that efforts were underway to prevent the execution. The people confirmed that the execution has been scheduled for July 16.

“We have been closely following the matter since she was given the death sentence. We have been in regular touch with Yemeni authorities and her family members and rendered all possible assistance. We continue to closely follow the matter,” one of the people cited above said.

The government earlier said in Parliament that it was providing all assistance to the family of Priya.

The case has been complicated as the Indian side has no formal contacts with the Houthi rebels, and because efforts to secure Priya’s release through the Islamic tradition of “diyat”, or paying “blood money” to the victim’s family, ran into complications.

Priya’s mother Premakumari travelled to Yemen last year to take up negotiations for payment of blood money. She is being assisted in these efforts by a group of non-resident Indians in Yemen.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Rezaul H Laskar
Rezaul Hasan Laskar is Foreign Editor with the Hindustan Times, which he joined in 2015. He began as a journalist in his hometown of Shillong in northeast India and has worked in newspapers and wire services over the years. He moved to New Delhi in 1997 and initially focused on defence, national security, Jammu and Kashmir and the northeast, while also working of foreign policy and international relations. He has been part of the media delegation accompanying PMs on foreign visits and has reported from destinations ranging from Tibet to Ukraine. Between 2007 and 2013, he was the Press Trust of India correspondent in Pakistan, one of only two Indian journalists allowed to report from the country. He extensively covered Pakistan’s domestic politics and the life of the common people, as well as the fallout of the 2008 Mumbai attacks on India-Pakistan relations and the subsequent trial in Pakistan of the suspects involved in the attack. As part of his reportage in Pakistan, he travelled the breadth of the country, from the Swat Valley to Balochistan. Reza’s first gig in journalism was writing a weekly music column, and music – especially classic rock – remains a keen interest. He is also a movie buff and a keen photographer.Read More

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