The Indian government is extending all possible help in the case of Nimisha Priya, an Indian national on death row in Yemen, the external affairs ministry said on Tuesday hours after the Yemeni president approved her death sentence.
Priya, 36, who is from Palakkad in Kerala, was arrested in July 2017 in connection with the murder of a Yemeni citizen. She was sentenced to death by a Yemeni court in 2020. After efforts to secure her release through the Islamic tradition of “diyat”, or paying “blood money” to the victim’s family, failed, Yemen’s President Rashad al-Alimi approved her death sentence on Monday.
Responding to the development, external affairs ministry spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal said the government is extending all help in Priya’s case while her family explores “relevant options”.
Jaiswal said: “We are aware of the sentencing of Ms Nimisha Priya in Yemen. We understand that the family of Ms Priya is exploring relevant options.” He added, without giving details, “The government is extending all possible help in the matter.”
Priya is currently on death row in the central prison in the Yemeni capital of Sana’a. Her mother, Prema Kumari, 57, went to Sana’a earlier this year to try to avert the death penalty by negotiating the payment of blood money to the victim’s family. Kumari is being helped in these efforts by a body set up by expatriate Indians in Yemen.
{{/usCountry}}Priya is currently on death row in the central prison in the Yemeni capital of Sana’a. Her mother, Prema Kumari, 57, went to Sana’a earlier this year to try to avert the death penalty by negotiating the payment of blood money to the victim’s family. Kumari is being helped in these efforts by a body set up by expatriate Indians in Yemen.
{{/usCountry}}After going to Yemen in 2009 to work as a nurse, Priya set up a clinic in Sana’a in 2015 along with Yemeni national Talal Abdo Mehdi, whom she was later accused of murdering. Media reports have said there was a falling out between Priya and Mehdi in 2017 over his alleged embezzlement of funds. Priya was arrested along with another Yemeni national in connection with the murder.
Priya’s husband Tomy Thomas and her daughter returned from Yemen in 2014, while she stayed behind. Yemen’s Supreme Judicial Council dismissed Priya’s appeal against her death sentence in November 2023 but kept open the option of paying blood money to the victim’s family.
According to reports, Priya’s family was required to pay $40,000 to Mehdi’s relatives following negotiations with the dead man’s kin and tribal elders. A sum of more than $19,800 was raised by Priya’s family through collective efforts and paid in July. However, the rest of the money could not be raised, the reports said.