New Delhi, 9 July 2025:
The Government of India is putting a full diplomatic effort to escape the execution of Indian nurse Nimisha Priya who is due to be hanged in the Yemen to the murder of a Yemeni national in 2017, as per the human right activist Samuel Jerome.
Nimisha, a native of Palakkad district in Kerala, was found guilty in the year 2018 after being charged by injecting her business partner, Talal Abdo Mehdi, with sedatives in an argument over her passport. He later overdosed himself to death. In November 2023, her petition to Yemen Supreme Judicial Council was rejected, but the case of blood money (diya) was still open.
A spokesperson at India Ministry of External Affairs (Randhir Jaiswal) confirmed that Indian officials are giving all the assistance possible in the issue and are in continuous communication with the Yemeni authorities, the family of Priya, and activism groups. Since April 2024 her mother, Prema Kumari, has stayed in Sanaa with the Save Nimisha Priya International Action Council and the Indian consular staff to negotiate a reprieve.
Talks have revolved around using blood money to provide a pardon to the family of Mehdi. Samuel Jerome who possessed a power of attorney stated the date on which the execution was to take place and sought immediate Indian interference: The public prosecutor had issued the letter of prosecution to the jail authorities, The choices remain open. The Government of India can interfere in the case to save her life”.
In Yemen, a convicted prisoner will be pardoned depending on the acceptance of diya by the victim family members. The precise amount is yet to be officially handled, but previously, attempts to raise USD 40,000, including those with the embassy crowdfunded donations have been informed as delayed, allegedly owing to legal and procedural complications.
This has become a national issue as people have started debating the weaknesses of Indian citizens working overseas and the extent of consular relations. Nimisha is still held at Yemeni custody since August of 2017 when she was caught trying to escape the country after Mehdi was killed.
A group of Indian activists, legal counselors and diplomatic representatives wants a delay or a pardon with nine days to go before the scheduled date. The Foreign Ministry in India reinforced that every resource including legal, diplomatic or humanitarian is being exercised so that she will be spared.
The closer the 16 July deadline is, the closer there is a rush to get blood money negotiations done, or to be granted clemency in Yemen. As diplomatic avenues are now open but time is short, the only hope is now on whether Yemeni judicial and tribal authorities would accept a pardon that could forestall her execution.
