New Delhi: Indian nurse Nimisha Priya, who has been on death row in Yemen for the 2017 murder of a Yemeni national, is scheduled to be executed on July 16, according to a report in The Indian Express, citing social worker Samuel Jerome Baskaran.
Priya, 37, hails from Palakkad district in Kerala and has been in jail in Sana’a, the capital of Yemen, which is currently under the control of the Houthi militia. She was convicted of murdering Yemeni citizen Talal Abdo Mehdi, her business associate, and sentenced to death in a ruling upheld by Yemen’s Supreme Judicial Council in 2024 and later approved by President Rashad al-Alimi.
Background of the case
Priya had travelled to Yemen in 2011 to work as a nurse. In order to run a clinic legally, she partnered with Talal Abdo Mehdi, a Yemeni national. Trouble reportedly began when Talal allegedly confiscated her passport. According to the prosecution, she sedated him in a bid to recover her passport, but the man died due to an overdose of the drug. With the help of a Yemeni colleague, Hanan, Priya is alleged to have dismembered and disposed of his body in a water tank.
The case was primarily handled by the Houthi-controlled courts, according to earlier statements by the Yemeni Embassy.
Diplomatic efforts and last-minute hopes
Social worker Samuel Jerome Baskaran, who has been liaising with both Yemeni officials and Talal’s family, confirmed that a formal execution notice has been sent to the jail authorities, scheduling the execution for July 16.
Baskaran, who is set to return to Yemen to resume negotiations, said an offer of blood money (diyya) had been made to the deceased’s family, but no response had been received. “Options remain open, and the Indian Government can still intervene to save her life,” he told The Indian Express.
Sources told ANI that the Indian Government is closely following the case. “We have been in regular touch with local authorities and her family members and rendered all possible assistance,” sources said. Priya’s mother and daughter have made repeated appeals seeking diplomatic intervention to secure her release.
Stranded by conflict
Priya’s husband and daughter returned to India in 2014 due to financial difficulties. The ongoing civil war in Yemen, which escalated in 2015, has made it difficult for Indian nationals to return or travel within the country.
With just days left before the scheduled execution, efforts are underway from multiple fronts — legal, diplomatic, and humanitarian — to seek clemency or negotiate a last-minute reprieve through diya payment as per Islamic law.