Indian government, family, and rights groups race against time as diplomatic hurdles persist
Efforts are intensifying to save 37-year-old Kerala nurse Nimisha Priya from execution in Yemen’s capital Sana’a, where she faces the death penalty in a murder case. Priya was convicted and sentenced by a court in Houthi-controlled territory—an area where India has no formal diplomatic relations, complicating the rescue attempts, reported hindustantimes.com.
India lacks diplomatic ties with the Houthis, making negotiations for her release extremely difficult.
Priya’s case has garnered national and international attention as she awaits execution in a prison governed by the Houthis, a rebel group that controls large parts of Yemen. While India maintains relations with the internationally recognised Presidential Leadership Council, it has no formal ties with the Houthis’ governing body, the Supreme Political Council.
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The Yemeni Supreme Judicial Council upheld Priya’s death sentence in 2023
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Confusion followed when reports claimed Yemen’s President Rashad al-Alimi approved the verdict, but the Yemeni embassy in New Delhi clarified the case falls under Houthi jurisdiction
Indian government, family and activists push for last-minute intervention.
The Indian government stated in Parliament that it is offering all assistance to Priya’s family, including her mother Premakumari, who travelled to Yemen last year using back channels. She tried negotiating a diya (blood money) settlement, a legal provision in Yemen where the victim’s family can be compensated in exchange for clemency.
The Save Nimisha Priya Action Council told The News Minute that it offered $1 million (approx. ₹8.5 crore), but the victim Talal Abdo Mahdi’s family has yet to respond with a final demand. Council members plan to follow up within the next two days.
Meanwhile, social worker Samuel Jerome Baskaran, involved in the negotiations, confirmed a letter has been issued by Yemen’s public prosecutor to prison authorities for Priya’s execution.
The story behind the case: Abuse, survival, and tragedy.
Priya moved to Yemen in 2008 as a nurse. In 2011, she married an Indian man, but by 2014, her husband and child had returned to India due to financial constraints. Alone in Yemen, she tried to open a clinic and entered a business partnership with local trader Talal Abdo Mahdi—reportedly necessary under local law.
Priya alleges that Mahdi abused her physically and emotionally, manipulated paperwork to claim marriage, confiscated her passport, and used drugs to control her. In a desperate attempt to escape the abuse, she reportedly administered sedatives to Mahdi with the help of a local jail warden. The dosage led to his death, resulting in her arrest and conviction for murder.
As the July 16 deadline nears, uncertainty and urgency grip her family and supporters.
