The story so far: Malayali nurse Nimisha Priya, who is on death row at the Central prison in Yemen’s capital Sanaa for the alleged murder of a Yemeni national, is scheduled to be executed on July 16, according to unconfirmed reports. The Supreme Court on July 14, 2025 (Monday) heard a plea filed by Save Nimisha Priya International Action Council, an organisation fighting to save her life from the gallows. The Centre told the apex court that “the Government of India is doing whatever is utmost possible” in the matter. Attorney General R. Venkataramani told a Supreme Court Bench that “having regard to the sensitivity and status of Yemen as a place, there is nothing much the Government of India can do.”
The news about her reported execution emerged in the public domain after Samuel Jerome Baskaran, a member of the Save Nimisha Priya International Action Council who has been based in Yemen since 1999, told the media last week that he had received a message from the chairman of the central prison in Sanaa that Nimisha’s execution has been scheduled on July 16. The counsel representing the council in the apex court had stated that the option to pay ‘blood money (diyah)’ to the murdered man’s family and be pardoned for the crime was still open.
How did she end up behind the bars?
Nimisha, a native of Kollengode in Palakkad district, had left for Yemen in 2008 with dreams of securing a better future for her parents, who worked as domestic helps. She joined as a nurse at a government-run hospital in Sanaa initially. She worked there until 2011, before returning to Kerala to marry Tomy Thomas, a native of Thodupuzha in Idukki district. The civil war that resulted in the Houthi rebels with links to Iran gaining control over Sanaa in September 2014 shattered her dreams. The Government of India issued an advisory in April 2015 asking Indian nationals not to travel to Yemen owing to the adverse political and security situation triggered by the rift between the Houthis and the Saudi-led coalition forces in Yemen. Though she left for Yemen a month earlier before the internal strife escalated, her husband and daughter had to stay back in Kerala in view of the visa restrictions. In 2015, Nimisha quit her low-paying hospital job to start her own clinic. However, Yemeni law required its nationals to own and operate businesses, forcing her to partner with Yemeni national Talal Abdo Mahdi to set up the venture.
A petition filed by Nimisha’s mother, Premakumari, in December 2023 before the Delhi High Court, seeking the Centre’s permission to visit her daughter, stated that her relationship with Mahdi deteriorated over time after he allegedly began torturing her and siphoned off all the clinic’s revenue. In July 2017, desperate for a way out, Nimisha sought advice from a jail warden near her clinic where Mahdi had previously been imprisoned for various offences. The warden suggested sedating Mahdi to recover her passport. However, an apparent overdose resulted in his death. Nearly a month later, Nimisha was arrested near Yemen’s border with Saudi Arabia after Mahdi’s dismembered body was discovered in a water tank. She was sentenced to death by a trial court in Sanaa in 2020 and the Houthi Supreme Council had dismissed her appeal in November 2023 while keeping the option of paying blood money open.
What were the measures initiated to secure her release from prison?
The efforts to release her from prison gained momentum after the formation of Save Nimisha Priya International Action Council. The collective, comprising elected representatives, lawyers and human rights activists, was formed to ensure Nimisha’s access to justice and raise funds for blood money — the compensation paid to the victim’s family in accordance with Shariah law — should the victim’s family agree to pardon her. Their intervention also helped Premakumari to travel to Yemen to meet her daughter in prison and seek pardon for her with the family of Mahdi. The Delhi High Court, on a plea filed by her and the council, asked the Centre in December 2023 to relax its 2017 notification, which barred Indian passport holders from travelling to Yemen. She has been staying with Samuel Jerome since April 23, 2024. The Ministry of External Affairs had announced on December 31, 2024, that the Government of India was extending all possible assistance to Nimisha. Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan has appealed to Prime Minister Narendra Modi to intervene with Yemeni authorities and save her.
Why did the attempts to halt her death sentence fail to yield expected results?
The case had posed significant challenges due to India’s lack of official ties with the Iran-aligned Houthi rebels. The hurdles in reaching out to the family of the victim also delayed the efforts. Samuel had claimed in December last that the negotiations came to a halt following the release in the delay of the second instalment of the fee asked by the lawyer engaged on behalf of Nimisha to carry out the talks with the family members and tribal leaders. However, the council had clarified that the lawyer had demanded a total of about 40,000 dollars as pre-negotiation fee. About 20,000 dollars were transferred to him through the Indian Embassy in Yemen in July 2024. Subhash Chandran K. R., member of the council and Supreme Court lawyer, had then said that the release of the second instalment was put on hold as the council had asked the lawyer to update on the progress of the negotiations and the details about how the initial funding was utilised. It was later transferred in December, 2024, he said.
What are the options left before Nimisha?
The options before her are limited as the execution can be halted only if the family of the victim agreed to pardon her. There has been no official word still on any such response from them. Samuel had said last week that the prison authorities would not have scheduled the execution date without informing the family of the victim, indicating that they have given their consent. There was also no word yet on whether the family had demanded any blood money.
Published – July 14, 2025 01:54 pm IST
