Nimisha Priya’s release was contingent upon obtaining forgiveness from the victim’s family and tribal leaders as well as paying them blood money, as Yemen President Rashad al-Alimi had previously denied her request.
New Delhi: Indian nurse Nimisha Priya, who has been incarcerated since 2017 for the murder of a Yemeni person, has been given the death penalty by Yemeni President Rashad al-Alimi. According to media reports, the sentence can be carried out within a month.
India is aware of Nimisha Priya’s sentence in Yemen, the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) said Monday in response to the news.
“We are aware that Priya’s family is looking into pertinent options. In a statement, MEA Spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal stated, “The government is offering all assistance possible in the matter.”
The family back home, who had been working to free the 36-year-old off death row, was taken aback by the Yemeni president’s decision. According to reports, her mother Prema Kumari, 57, has been in Sana’a, Yemen’s capital, since earlier this year in an attempt to negotiate the blood money with the victim’s family and obtain a waiver of the death penalty.
The Case of Nimisha Priya
In 2017, Nimisha Priya was convicted of the murder of Yemeni national Talal Abdo Mahdi. A Yemeni trial court sentenced her to death a year later. Her family has been battling for her release ever since. In 2023, they appealed the trial court’s ruling to the Yemini Supreme Court, but their case was denied. Now that Priya’s appeal had been denied by the nation’s president, her release hinged on getting the victim’s family and tribal leaders to pardon her.
