Nimisha Priya death row: Brother of Yemeni man Mahdi denies Kerala cleric's mediation role

Priya, a 37-year-old nurse from Kerala, was convicted of murdering a Yemeni national named Mahdi in 2017 and was sentenced to death the following year, in 2018

The family of a Yemeni man murdered in 2017 has rejected claims by Kerala cleric Kanthapuram AP Aboobacker Musliar that he played a role in securing a reprieve for Indian nurse Nimisha Priya, who is on death row in Yemen, The Indian Express reported.

On Monday, Talal Abdo Mahdi’s brother, Abdul Fatah Mehdi, posted on Facebook: “We have strictly prohibited any meeting or discussion with the parents of Talal, either directly or through any medium, by the office of Kanthapuram or Habib Omar Ibn Hafeez. The religion of Islam is the religion of truth and not the religion of distortion and falsification. If the news were true, we would have announced it first.”

Priya’s execution, originally scheduled for July 16, was postponed last month by the Al-Houthi government.

Following the development, Kanthapuram, who is also the general secretary of the All India Jamiyyathul Ulama, had said his intervention contributed to the delay. His office later claimed that Priya’s death sentence had been revoked, but withdrew the statement soon after.

Kanthapuram had earlier said representatives of Yemeni Sufi leader Sheikh Habib Umar Bin Hafiz met Talal’s family, paving the way for a reprieve. The victim’s family has now denied such a meeting took place.

Just two days earlier, Abdul Fatah said he had approached prosecution authorities to set a new execution date, insisting “there is no substitute for retribution.”

India’s Ministry of External Affairs has refused to comment on Kanthapuram’s reported involvement, with spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal telling reporters last month that there was “no information to share” on the matter.

However, hours after Kanthapuram claimed that the death sentence of the Indian nurse has been ‘cancelled’, a new report citing MEA sources rejected such claims.

According to CNN-News18 report, the sources in the Ministry of External Affairs said that claims made by the cleric are ‘inaccurate.’

Earlier, in a statement, Kanthapuram had asserted that the death sentence of Priya had been completely overturned in Yemen.

However, the statement also acknowledged that official written confirmation from Yemeni authorities was still awaited.

“Information being shared by certain individuals on the Nimisha Priya case is inaccurate,” MEA sources clarified today.

Priya, a 37-year-old nurse from Kerala, was convicted of murdering a Yemeni national named Mahdi in 2017 and was sentenced to death the following year, in 2018. Her execution, initially scheduled for July 16 this year, was subsequently postponed.