Who is Nimisha Priya – Indian nurse sentenced to death in Yemen?

The Delhi high court was hearing a plea filed of mother of Nimisha Priya seeking permission to travel to Yemen to negotiate with the victim’s family.

The central government has informed the Delhi high court that the Supreme Court in Yemen on November 13 had dismissed the appeal of Malayali nurse Nimisha Priya against the death sentence imposed on her for murdering a Yemeni national. The final decision now lies with the President of Yemen, the government told the high court on Thursday.

Malayali nurse Nimisha Priya

The court was hearing a writ petition filed by the mother of Nimisha Priya seeking permission to travel to Yemen to negotiate with the victim’s family by paying blood money.

The Delhi high court asked the Centre to take a decision within a week on a request to travel to Yemen from the mother.

Who is Nimisha Priya?

• Nimisha Priya has been convicted of murdering Talal Abdo Mahdi, who died in July 2017 after she injected him with sedatives in order to get her passport from his possession.
• It was stated that Nimisha Priya injected Talal Abdo Mahdi with sedatives so that she could take her passport from him while he was unconscious. However, he died of an overdose.
• Priya's mother moved the Delhi high court earlier this year, seeking permission to travel to Yemen in spite of a travel ban for Indian nationals and negotiate the “blood money” to save her daughter. Blood money refers to the compensation paid by an offender or his kin to the family of the victim.
• Priya and her colleague Hanan, a Yemini national, reportedly chopped Mahadi’s body before disposing of it in a water tank. Priya was awarded capital punishment in 2018. Hanan was sentenced to life imprisonment.
• A mother of an eight-year-old child, Priya worked in Yemen’s Sana’a since 2011.
• On Thursday, the Centre's lawyer said according to a notification issued recently, the travel ban may be relaxed and Indian nationals may be allowed to travel to Yemen for specific reasons and durations.
• The petitioner, represented by lawyer Subash Chandaran KR, had told the court earlier that the only way to save her daughter from the gallows was to negotiate with the deceased's family by paying blood money and for which she has to travel to Yemen but due to the travel ban, she is unable to go there.
• The "Save Nimisha Priya International Action Council" approached the high court last year, seeking a direction to the Centre to "facilitate diplomatic interventions as well as negotiations with the family of the victim on behalf of Nimisha Priya to save her life by paying blood money in accordance with the law of the land in a time-bound manner".
• The high court had earlier refused to direct the Centre to negotiate the payment of blood money to save the woman, but asked it to pursue the legal remedies against the conviction in Yemen.
• In the earlier petition, it was alleged that Mahdi had forged documents to show that he was married to Priya and had subjected her to abuse and torture.

(With inputs from agencies)