The Congress party has urged Prime Minister Narendra Modi to urgently intervene to stop the execution of Indian nurse Nimisha Priya, who is scheduled to be hanged in Yemen on July 16. Priya, a native of Kollengode in Kerala’s Palakkad district, was convicted in 2018 for the murder of a Yemeni national, Talal Abdo Mahdi.
In a letter to the Prime Minister, Congress general secretary and Kerala MP KC Venugopal requested immediate diplomatic intervention to cancel the death sentence. He highlighted that Priya’s family and the Save Nimisha Priya Action Council had attempted to negotiate a settlement through “blood money” or diyah, as allowed under Yemeni law. However, ongoing civil unrest in Yemen has made these efforts extremely difficult.
Venugopal shared the letter on social media, describing Priya’s death sentence as a “grave travesty of justice.” He said she was a victim of domestic abuse and cruelty and did not deserve the death penalty.
Priya had moved to Yemen in 2011 and later partnered with Mahdi to open a clinic in Sanaa. Yemeni law requires foreigners to marry locals to start a business. According to her family, Mahdi exploited this rule, took control of her documents, and posed as her husband. They allege he abused her emotionally and physically, and that the killing was an act of self-defence.
The trial court sentenced her to death in 2018, and her appeal was rejected by Yemen’s Supreme Court in 2023. The country’s President also turned down her plea for clemency later that year. The only way to avoid the death penalty now is to secure forgiveness from the victim’s family, often through compensation.
However, negotiations with Mahdi’s family stalled when Abdullah Ameer, a lawyer appointed through the Indian Embassy, demanded a pre-negotiation fee of Rs 17.12 lakh (\$20,000), which was later doubled. Some of the money raised through crowdfunding was used to pay the first installment, but disputes over fund transparency have caused further delays.
Despite these hurdles, Priya’s mother, Prema Kumari, has been in Yemen trying to convince the victim’s family and tribal leaders to pardon her daughter. Meanwhile, advocacy groups in India continue their campaign to save Priya’s life.
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