Indian nurse Nimisha Priya, convicted of the murder of Yemeni citizen Talal Abdo Mehdi, is set to be executed on July 16. The public prosecutor in Yemen confirmed the execution order and handed it over to the prison authorities.
The deceased person’s family has demanded blood money of one million dollars to secure her pardon, sources told ABP Live.
Priya, 37, originally belonged to Kerala and was convicted of murdering Mehdi, with whom she had partnered to open a clinic. She allegedly sedated him to retrieve her passport, which was in his possession. However, Mehdi died of drug overdose. Thereafter, the nurse, along with another Yemeni national and colleague Hanan, allegedly dismembered his body and disposed it in a water tank. A trial court found her guilty of Mehdi’s murder in July 2017.
Samuel Jerome Baskaran, a social worker who is negotiating with the Yemen government and Mehdi’s family, told The Indian Express that options remained open and that the government of India could intervene to save the nurse’s life. Baskaran also said that an offer had been extended to the victim’s family during their last meeting, but they did not respond.
The Yemeni embassy had earlier said that the murder case had largely been overseen by the Houthi militia, news agency PTI reported.
The Indian nurse, who hails from Kerala’s Palakkad district, is currently lodged in a jail in the Yemen’s capital city of Sana’a, which is under the control of Houthis.
After being decalred guilty of murder in 2017, Yemen’s supreme judicial council upheld the decision and sentenced her to death in 2024. The court verdict was approved by Yemen’s President Rashad al-Alimi.
Priya had moved to Sana’a in 2011 with her family to work as a nurse there. However, just after three years, her husband and daughter returned to India due to financial challenges. Later, the conflict in Yemen prevented them from reuniting, leaving Priya alone in the foreign country.
