Member of the TNM Action Council

“For Nimisha Priya’s death sentence to be forgiven, the Indian government must intervene immediately,” Babu John of the Save Nimisha Priya Action Council told TNM after Yemen President Rashad Al-Alimi approved the death penalty for Malayali nurse convicted of killing Yemeni citizen. .

Sharia law in Yemen gives the power to forgive a prisoner’s sentence to the victim’s family. This means that to free Nimisha Priya it will be necessary to begin negotiations with the family of Talal Abdo Mahdi, the deceased Yemeni citizen.

At the request of the Action Council, India’s Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) had appointed a lawyer to negotiate on behalf of Nimisha Priya. Babu said the lawyer demanded a fee of $40,000 in two installments. “Through the MEA, we paid $20,000 to the lawyer in June 2024. After that, talks were initiated with tribal leaders and Talal’s relatives,” he said, adding that the first phase of talks was promising.

According to Babu, the fact that Nimisha Priya’s execution has been delayed until now is indicative that Talal’s family is open to discussions and is not putting pressure on the government for the execution.

However, Babu said, when the Yemeni lawyer demanded the second payment of his fees, the MEA did not approve the transaction for several months. “The Action Council took the stance from the beginning that all transactions will be carried out only through the MEA. We know that the lawyer requested the MEA for the second transfer, but we did not receive any formal communication approving the payment from the MEA. Then in December, the Action Council contacted the MEA seeking permission to transfer the remaining amount. When even that went unanswered, we verbally informed the MEA that we were paying the attorney and transferred the remaining $20,000 on December 27.”

It was on December 30, 2024 when the president of Yemen approved the death sentence for Nimisha Priya. However, Babu said the delay in the lawyer’s payment did not directly lead to the president’s approval, which he called “unexpected.”

“What the Indian government is doing is not enough. Currently everything is in the hands of the Indian government. If they intervene immediately, we can save Nimisha Priya,” he said.

“She is a victim of the war in Yemen. Talal’s atrocities began when he saw that the war would not end soon. This is a war between Saudi Arabia and Iran where the Yemeni people are the scapegoats. If the Indian government wants, it can approach local tribes in many ways. But there is not so much intervention happening,” Babu said, suggesting that India should use “unofficial” diplomatic means to reach out to tribal leaders and the Yemeni government to facilitate negotiations.

Nimisha Priya went to Yemen in 2008 to work along with her husband and daughter, who returned to India in 2014 due to a financial crisis. In 2015, she opened a clinic there with the help of her husband’s friend Talal Abdo Mahdi, as the attendance of a Yemeni citizen is mandatory to operate a business in Yemen.

In 2017, Nimisha Priya allegedly injected Talal Abdo Mahdi with a sedative to obtain her passport, which he had taken from her, in addition to allegedly subjecting her to physical torture and extortion. After the injection, he collapsed and died. He then disposed of the body in a water tank with the help of a colleague. In August 2017 she was arrested. In 2020, a Sana’a lower court sentenced her to death.