Published Dec 31, 2024 | 11:55 AM ⚊ Updated Dec 31, 2024 | 11:55 AM
Nimisha Priya. (Sourced)
The Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) on Tuesday, 31 December, said it was exploring options to help Kerala native Nimisha Priya, who is on death row in Yemen for killing a Yemeni national.
“We are aware of the sentencing of Ms. Nimisha Priya in Yemen. We understand that the family of Ms. Priya is exploring relevant options. The government is extending all possible help in the matter,” MEA Official Spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal said.
On Monday, Yemen’s President Rashad al-Alimi upheld the death sentence of Priya, a nurse from Kerala.
The final ruling was made after efforts to negotiate blood money with the family of Talal Abdo Mahdi, whom she killed, and his tribal leader to resolve the case failed.
Priya, the daughter of a low-income domestic worker, moved to Yemen in 2008 and initially worked as a nurse at a government hospital in Sanaa.
However, dissatisfied with the low wages, she left the job in 2014 to establish her own clinic.
Yemeni law required her to partner with a local citizen to run the business, prompting her to collaborate with Talal, a local shopkeeper.
It was alleged that Priya administered him sedatives so she could take back her passport while he was unconscious but he died of an overdose.
Talal’s dismembered body was discovered in a water tank in July 2017. She was arrested while attempting to flee Yemen and was convicted in 2018. She was sentenced to death by a trial court in 2020.
On 24 April this year, Priya’s mother Prema Kumari met her daughter in a Yemeni prison after over 11 years.
After meeting her daughter and spending a few hours with her in prison, the mother, Prema Kumari, in a video message said she was not sure she would be able to see Priya.
“However, my fears were misplaced. I got to meet her. The moment she saw me, she came running to me, calling me mummy and hugged me. We both cried,” Kumari said.
Kumari has been working as a domestic help for over six years in Kizhakkambalam in the Ernakulam district in Kerala. Priya and Kumari are natives of Kollengode in Palakkad. Her visit to the Arab nation was facilitated by the Save Nimisha Priya International Council.
The Save Nimisha Priya International Action Council approached the Delhi High Court last year and sought direction to the Union government to “facilitate diplomatic interventions as well as negotiations with the family of the victim on behalf of Nimisha Priya to save her life by paying blood money in accordance with the law of the land in a time-bound manner”.
The petition alleged Mahdi had forged documents to show he and Priya were married and abused and tortured her.
The counsel appearing for the Union government had contended previously that India does not have diplomatic ties with Yemen and it has closed down its embassy there.
(With inputs from Sreelakshmi Soman.)
