Kerala nurse Nimisha Priya’s death sentence in Yemen: Supreme Court expedites proceedings to execute verdict
The Supreme Court in Yemen has expedited the proceedings against Malayali nurse Nimisha Priya, on the death penalty for the murder of a Yemeni citizen, following the petition filed by the family of the victim seeking to execute the punishment immediately.
Nimisha Priya, Premakumari’s daughter, has been given the death penalty for the 2017 murder of Yemeni national Talal Abdo Mahdi, and Premakumari is making all efforts to have her daughter’s life spared. Premakumari told Asianet News that she is knocking all doors and waiting for her daughter’s release. She said that her daughter called her from prison in Yemen on Easter after a very long time.
Premakumar said, “I will ask their forgiveness. I will tell them that Priya has a nine-year-old daughter who is waiting for her mother. They can take my life if they want.”
The only option moving forward is to attempt to have the victim’s death sentence reduced by providing blood money to the victim’s family. An effort is being made to establish a special action council with Delhi as its core for this. If the central government does not act immediately, there are fears that the Yemeni court could soon execute the death sentence. The Action Council had launched international initiatives to obtain Nimisha Priya’s release.
A trial court convicted Priya guilty of injecting Mahdi with sedatives in order to kill him in August 2020. The pieces of Mahdi’s body were found in a water tank in July 2017. The Yemeni nurse who was found guilty of assisting Priya got a life sentence.
Priya’s death sentence was upheld by an appeal court on March 7, 2022. According to Islamic law, if the victim’s family pardons the criminal, the death penalty may be suspended; this may entail paying “blood money” (compensation to the victim’s family).
Priya claimed that Mahdi had also fabricated documents to claim that she was his wife. And she said that Mahdi had abused and tortured her.
