Nimisha Priya Was Set To Be Executed Today In Yemen—What Stopped It? | India News
Kerala-based nurse Nimisha Priya, who was facing execution in Yemen on charges of murder, has received a temporary reprieve after last-minute efforts by prominent religious leaders in India and Yemen.
Nimisha Priya, a 37-year-old Indian national, was scheduled to be executed on Wednesday. However, the execution was postponed following the intervention of Sheikh Abubakr Ahmad Kanthapuram, the Grand Mufti of India, who reached out to Yemeni scholars and religious leaders to appeal on humanitarian grounds.
Speaking to ANI, the Grand Mufti said he urged Yemeni scholars to consider accepting diyaat (compensation), a form of clemency permissible under Islamic law.
“In Islam, instead of killing, there is also a practice of giving Diya (compensation). I requested them to accept Diyaat as the party is ready here for it. There are talks going on about whether my request has to be accepted. The date of execution was tomorrow, but it has now been postponed for some days,” the Grand Mufti told ANI.
Earlier on Monday, while giving the Union Government’s submission on the case in the Supreme Court, the Attorney General of India (AGI) stated that the Indian government is making every possible effort to help Priya.
He further informed the Court that talks are ongoing with Yemeni authorities, including the public prosecutor handling Priya’s case, to secure a suspension of the execution order until negotiations can be pursued. The court will continue to hear the case on July 18.
Priya is currently lodged in a jail in Yemen, facing the death penalty for the alleged murder of her former business partner, Talal Abdo Mehdi, in 2017.
Nimisha Priya moved to Yemen in 2008 to support her family and initially worked as a nurse before opening her own clinic.
In 2017, following a dispute with Mehdi — her business partner — she allegedly administered sedatives to him in a bid to retrieve her confiscated passport.
The sedatives proved fatal. She was arrested while attempting to flee the country and was convicted of murder in 2018.
A death sentence was handed down in 2020 and upheld by Yemen’s Supreme Judicial Council in November 2023.
However, under Yemen’s Sharia law, the court had allowed a provision for clemency through a blood money arrangement (diyaat). It was earlier reported that Priya’s family had expressed willingness to pay around ₹8.6 crore to the victim’s family as compensation in exchange for forgiveness.
(With IANS Inputs)
