Nimisha Priya case: Yemen cancels death sentence of Indian nurse, confirms office of 'Grand Mufti'

Nimisha Priya

The government of Yemen has 'overturned' and 'completely' cancelled the death sentence of Nimisha Priya, an Indian nurse convicted of murder, the office of 'Grand Mufti of India' , Sheikh Kanthapuram AP Aboobacker Musliyar, said on late Monday.

The execution, originally scheduled for July 16, was pushed back against the backdrop of diplomatic and humanitarian efforts by the Indian government.

The decision was reportedly made during a high-level meeting in Yemen’s capital, Sanaa. India’s Attorney General R Venkataramani, speaking in the Supreme Court, said that efforts are ongoing to bring Nimisha back home safely. The court, which is hearing a request for stronger diplomatic steps, has scheduled the next hearing for August 14.

Priya was convicted of murdering Mahdi in July 2017. She had allegedly injected him with sedatives with the plan to retrieve her passport while he would be unconscious. But Mahdi died apparently from an overdose, following which Priya allegedly hid his body in a water tank.

Nimisha Priya, a 37-year-old trained nurse from Kerala, went to Yemen in search of work. In 2015, she teamed up with a local man, Talal Abdo Mahdi, to start a clinic, since foreigners aren’t allowed to own businesses there on their own.

Mahdi reportedly misused a wedding photo taken during a visit to India to falsely claim he was married to Nimisha. He took control of the clinic and began forcing her to hand over her monthly earnings. According to her family, he abused her in many ways, including physical torture, drugging her, and taking her passport so she couldn’t leave Yemen.

When Nimisha turned to the police for help, she was briefly jailed instead of being protected. Desperate to escape, she allegedly tried to sedate Mahdi to get her passport back. But the dose turned out to be too strong, and Mahdi died leading to her arrest and a murder conviction.