NEW DELHI/THIRUVANANTHAPURAM– Nimisha Priya, a nurse from Kerala convicted of murdering Yemeni national Talal Abdo Mehdi, is scheduled to be executed in Yemen on July 16, according to officials involved in the case.
Priya has been imprisoned in Yemen for the past three years following her 2018 conviction. News of the scheduled execution emerged Tuesday, prompting negotiator S.J. Bhaskaran to prepare for an immediate trip to Yemen in a last-ditch effort to intervene.
Her husband, Tomy Thomas, and their daughter remain hopeful that they can convince Mehdi’s family to accept diya—blood money permitted under Yemeni law—as a means to avoid the execution. However, Mehdi’s family has so far not responded favorably to the offer.
Originally from Kollengode in Kerala’s Palakkad district, Priya moved to Yemen in 2008 to financially support her parents, who were daily wage laborers. After working in various hospitals, she eventually opened her own clinic.
In 2017, a dispute with her Yemeni business partner, Talal Abdo Mehdi, reportedly turned fatal. According to her family, Priya injected Mehdi with sedatives in an attempt to retrieve her confiscated passport. Tragically, the injection allegedly led to an overdose, causing his death.
Priya was arrested while attempting to leave the country and was later convicted of murder. In 2020, a trial court in Sanaa sentenced her to death—a ruling upheld by Yemen’s Supreme Judicial Council in November 2023. However, the court left the door open for a resolution through the payment of blood money to the victim’s family.
The case has drawn widespread attention in India and among the diaspora, sparking concerns over the treatment and legal vulnerabilities of Indian nationals abroad. Priya’s mother, Prema Kumari, 57, has been actively campaigning to save her daughter’s life. She has even traveled to Sanaa to personally negotiate with Mehdi’s family and plead for leniency.
Her efforts have been bolstered by the Save Nimisha Priya International Action Council, a group of NRI social workers in Yemen advocating for a diplomatic and humanitarian resolution.
With less than a week remaining before the scheduled execution, efforts are intensifying to secure a last-minute agreement that could spare Priya’s life. (Source: IANS)
