The execution of Kerala nurse Nimisha Priya, who was convicted for murder in Yemen, was halted for now after last-minute efforts by the Indian authorities, reports said on Tuesday. The execution was scheduled for Wednesday (July 16). She is currently lodged in a jail in Sana'a in the part of Yemen controlled by the Houthi rebel group.
Govt intervention, role of ‘Grand Mufti’
Priya's executed was postponed after “concerted efforts” by the Indian government, ANI quoted sources as saying. The sources stated, as per the news agency, that the government had put in efforts in recent days to seek more time so that Priya's family could reach a mutual agreement with the other party.
This mutual agreement, as understood from the efforts so far, could be about paying ‘blood money’ to the victim's family.
Another possible turning point was the intervention of Sunni Muslim leader Kanthapuram AP Aboobacker Musliyar, also known as the ‘Grand Mufti of India’. Kanthapuram was a part of the last-minute efforts to halt the execution of Priya. The Sunni Muslim leader had earlier held talks with religious authorities in Yemen, according to news agency PTI.
“The fact that he is a follower of Sheikh Habib Umar's Sufi order and the son of another prominent Sufi leader offers great hope,” Kanthapuram's office said.
Murder victim's family agrees to meeting
{{/usCountry}}“The fact that he is a follower of Sheikh Habib Umar's Sufi order and the son of another prominent Sufi leader offers great hope,” Kanthapuram's office said.
Murder victim's family agrees to meeting
{{/usCountry}}A meeting between the representatives of prominent Yemeni scholar Sheikh Habib Umar bin Hafiz and the family of the murder victim, Yemeni national Talal Abdo Mehdi, was also scheduled in Dhamar on Tuesday.
According to a source quoted by PTI, the family's agreement to hold talks was being seen as a “positive signal”, given that efforts to establish contact with Talal's kin had failed till now. "It was only through Kanthapuram's intervention that communication with the family became possible for the first time," sources told PTI.
Priya, 37, was handed the death sentence for Mehdi's murder in 2017. Since the conviction, the Indian government has been in regular contact with the Yemen authorities and members of Priya's family.
Priya is from Kerala's Palakkad district and had moved to Yemen's capital city of Sana'a in 2011 to work as a nurse there. She had partnered with Talal to open a clinic, a legal requirement for foreign nationals in Yemen.
Priya sedated Talal in order to retrieve her passport, which he had seized. But the Yemeni national died due to overdose of drugs, following which Priya, along with her colleague, dismembered his body and disposed of it in a tank.
Right to pardon under Islamic law
Speaking about the case on Tuesday, Kanthapuram said that he made the family understand the issues. “Islam has another law. If the murderer is sentenced to death, the family of the victim has the right to pardon. I don’t know who this family is, but from a long distance, I contacted the responsible scholars in Yemen,” the scholar said, according to ANI.
He said that after his request to the scholars, they said “they would do what they could”.
“They have officially informed us and sent a document stating that the date of execution has been postponed, which will help facilitate the ongoing discussions,” Kanthapuram said.
The Indian government had earlier said they “cannot do much” about the execution.
“There is a point till which the Government of India can go. We have reached that," Attorney General R Venkataramani told the Supreme Court on Monday. He further said the government had reached out to “an influential sheikh" to speak to authorities in Yemen, but was not sure of that approach would work either.