South First spoke to Premakumari, who is staying back in Yemen after meeting Nimisha Priya and negotiating with Mahdi's family to get her released on payment of blood money.
Published Jan 08, 2025 | 6:00 PM ⚊ Updated Jan 15, 2025 | 11:18 AM
Unverified reports now hinder real efforts to save Nimisha Priya from the death row
For the past eight months, Premakumari has been living in a prison she had created for herself in an alien land.
Her daughter, Nimisha Priya, has been in prison, awaiting premature death, ever since her arrest from the Yemen-Saudi Arabia border in August 2017. A month earlier she had dosed a Yemeni national Talal Abdo Mahdi with ketamine in a claimed bid to sedate him and retrieve her passport from his possession.
Nurse Priya’s act killed Mahdi of a ketamine overdose. Panicked, she sought the help of another nurse, cut up the man’s body, and tossed it into a water tank.
A year before the incident, Nimisha Priya had approached the Yemeni police. She complained that Mahdi was abusing and torturing her. Nothing happened.
After her arrest, she was tried and sentenced to death in 2018. A retrial two years later upheld the earlier verdict. Meanwhile, the other nurse who had helped Priya to dispose of Mahdi’s body was sentenced to life imprisonment.
Meanwhile, at Kollengode in Palakkad, Kerala, Priya’s husband, child, and her mother Premakumari were waiting for any bit of news that would bring them hope.
Their multiple attempts to travel to Yemen had failed until 2024 when the trio won a legal battle that took them to Sanaa, Yemen’s capital, where Priya had initially worked as a nurse at a government hospital.
On 24 April 2024, Premakumari met Priya for the first after the latter had left Kerala in 2011, shortly after her marriage. While in Yemen, Priya gave birth to her daughter in December 2012, but her husband and the child returned to Kerala two years later owing to financial constraints.
Premakumari preferred to stay back in Yemen after meeting Priya, negotiating with Mahdi’s family to get her released on payment of blood money, or diyah.
For Premakumar, the stay in Yemen is imprisonment. She doesn’t know the language and worse, has no clue about what to be done next.
Sunday, 6 January, six days after Priya had turned 36. The Embassy of the Republic of Yemen in New Delhi denied reports that President Dr Rashid Al-Alimi had approved the execution order for Priya.
“How are you, amma (mother),” Premakumari was not expecting South First‘s call over WhatsApp. She choked on words, perhaps overcome with emotions. The call was soon disconnected, promising to contact after a couple of hours.
A few hours later, Premakumari was ready to talk. “I can only pray for my child, and I have been doing so continuously day and night,” she expressed her helplessness.
She said that Tamil Nadu native Samuel Jerome has been taking care of her in Yemen. Jerome has been coordinating talks between the Save Nimisha Priya International Action Council, her lawyer in Yemen and the lawyer back home, Advocate KR Subhash Chandran.
“I have been living with sir’s (Jerome) family for the past eight months. They have been taking care of me and doing everything they can to save my daughter,” she said.
Jerome is settled in Yemen with his wife, who works as a nurse. Even after the travel ban was imposed, he continued to stay there with the permission of the Indian government.
There are other Keralites in Yemen. Though they, too, hope for Priya’s release, they have been staying away from the activities of the Action Council fearing legal reprisals. This made Jerome the only channel for the Action Council to communicate with the local lawyer and leaders.
Jerome was not at home when South First contacted Premakumari. She said he had gone to meet the authorities in connection with Priya’s release.
“I am uneducated. I don’t know the language here. I come from a remote village, and I am going through an emotional toll. It has been years since I slept peacefully. But I am ready to go anywhere to save my child,” she said.
When asked about the support from people in Kerala, Premakumari expressed gratitude. “I was deeply moved when I heard that everyone is praying for me and Priya’s safe return. I thank everyone in Kerala for the immense support I have received.”
In 2020, well-wishers and Priya’s relatives formed the Save Nimisha Priya International Action Council. It has been actively working to secure her release.
“The process will be smoother if we pay the second instalment of the blood money on time,” Premakumari quoted Jerome as saying.
Priya’s mother sounded worried over the delayed second instalment. Advocate Chandran explained to South First that a pre-negotiation fee of $40,000 (around ₹34.2 lakh) had been paid to tribal leaders to facilitate talks with the victim’s family.
The initial payment of $20,000 was made several months ago, but due to the absence of a favourable response, the second instalment was postponed. The second payment, also amounting to $20,000, was delivered in late December through the Indian diplomatic mission in Saudi Arabia, which played a crucial role in the mediation process.
However, within three days of the payment, reports surfaced indicating that the Yemeni President had signed the death sentence of Priya, Chandran said. This was the report that the Yemeni Embassy denied.
Chandran said despite making the payment, no progress had been achieved and Mahdi’s family had not come forward for negotiations. He added that though the Save Nimisha Priya Action Council is ready to raise additional funds, the Ministry of External Affairs should intervene to bring the victim’s family to the negotiation table.
Chandran added that the Council was not asking the government to provide financial support. It needs the government’s support to facilitate the negotiation.
The advocate also voiced concerns about inadequate communication with Jerome, their only contact in Yemen. Jerome, who had lived there for decades, was instrumental in taking the Council’s efforts forward, but after receiving the first instalment of funds, he left the WhatsApp group set up for easier coordination.
This break in communication has caused significant confusion. Travelling to Yemen has been restricted ever since the Yemeni Civil War in 2015.
India currently has no functioning embassy in Yemen.
Chandran expressed hope that Iran’s willingness to mediate could play a crucial role in securing Priya’s release.
The only feasible option is to pay blood money to Mahdi’s family to secure clemency, with the exact amount to be decided by his family. Chandran also revealed that the approval for the death sentence came from Mehdi Al-Mashat, leader of the Houthi Supreme Political Council, often referred to as the “rebel president.”
In Yemen, each region is controlled by different groups, and the crime took place in an area under Houthi militia control. Given Iran’s strong ties with the Houthis, their intervention could be of paramount importance but coordination remains a significant challenge.
Chandran mentioned that they had requested Jerome to bring Premakumari back to India as there was no need for her to stay there alone. However, they have not received a positive response yet, and communication remains poor.
(Edited by Majnu Babu.)
