The execution of Nimisha Priya, the Indian nurse who was scheduled to be executed today in Yemen, was postponed by Yemeni authorities on July 15. Convicted of murdering a Yemen national Talal Abdo Mehdi in 2017, she is currently imprisoned in a jail in Yemeni capital Sana'a controlled by the Houthis. While the Indian government made 'concerted efforts' in the last couple of days to save Priya, her execution in Yemen seemed imminent due to absence of formal diplomatic relations there.
What appeared almost next to impossible suddenly changed overnight bringing big relief to the Kerala nurse's family. But it was not merely blood money or diplomacy that helped buy time. Nimisha Priya's lawyer Subhash Chandran revealed to NDTV that it was only after victim's brother came in things started looking brighter.
According to the Chandran, time is everything and he managed to buy some after talking to Mehdi's brother. "For the first time since the case began, the brother of the victim came to the table. We talked all night. By late morning, the execution was deferred. We got what we wanted, some time to persuade the family now," he told NDTV.
When Nimisha Priya was awarded death sentence, there was just one option under the Yemeni Sharia law - blood money. The revocation of the death sentence depended on the victim's family ... The only solution was the victim's family accepting the compensation and issuing a pardon.
In this case, an offer of $1 million (approximately Rs 8.6 crore) was made to Mahdi's family by the Save Nimisha Priya International Action Council. But nothing seemed to change the Indian nurse's fate with the blood money offer.
Exploring beyond diplomacy ...
Nimisha's lawyer disclosed that it was not embassies or courtrooms that changed the course. What helped was 'faith, persistence and an unlikely hotline between Kerala and Yemen'.
"Diplomacy has its limits in a war-torn country like Yemen. The Indian government tried its best. But there are challenges, so we turned to backchannels - to religion, to humanity. And that's where the change came from," he added.
Highlighting Muslim cleric Kanthapuram AP Aboobacker Musliyar's contribution in the case, Chandran said the Sunni leader's intervention (through the Markaz in Kerala) helped establish direct communication with political and religious leaders in Yemen. "That led to an overnight negotiation session which finally brought a member of the victim's family to the table," he told NDTV.
Road ahead
While there'll be no more hearings in the case, the window, Chandran believes, is still open. The victim's family accepting the blood money is what can change Nimisha Priya's fate forever.
"The judiciary has done what it could. Now it's entirely up to the victim's family. If they accept the diya and pardon her, Nimisha lives. If not, we will lose her," he added.
Thanking the Yemeni judicial system for providing the window, Nimisha Priya's lawyer said, "We are grateful to the Yemeni judicial system for giving us this window. It's all we asked for - one chance to plead, to apologise unconditionally, to show we mean no disrespect, only deep remorse."
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