New Delhi: Indian national Nimisha Priya, a 37-year-old nurse from Kerala’s Palakkad district, is scheduled to be executed in Yemen on July 16, according to human rights activist Samuel Jerome of the Save Nimisha Priya Action Council. The development follows the official issuance of her execution letter and confirmation from Yemeni jail authorities.
Nimisha has been behind bars in Sanaa since 2017, after she was convicted of murdering Yemeni national Talal Abdo Mehdi. All legal avenues to challenge the verdict have now been exhausted. The only remaining hope for Nimisha lies in securing forgiveness from the victim’s family, which under Yemeni law, can result in a reprieve through the payment of blood money.
Negotiations have been ongoing for months, with the action council offering $1 million to the victim’s family in exchange for clemency. “The execution date has been conveyed to Nimisha. There is still a ray of hope, but the family has not yet accepted the offer to forgive,” Jerome said. Babu John, another council member, confirmed that the compensation offer remains on the table, and the team is continuing the talks.
Nimisha’s journey to Yemen began in 2011, when she moved to Sanaa to work as a nurse. Her husband and daughter returned to India in 2014 due to financial constraints, while Nimisha stayed back amid the escalating conflict in the region.
In 2015, she opened a medical clinic with Talal Mehdi as her mandatory local partner. However, relations between them soured, reportedly over financial disagreements. According to her family, Nimisha accused Mehdi of embezzlement and holding her passport. In an attempt to retrieve it, she allegedly sedated him—an act that led to his death due to an overdose.
The case took a horrifying turn when Nimisha and her colleague, another Yemeni national named Hanan, allegedly dismembered Mehdi’s body and disposed of it in a water tank. Nimisha was arrested while attempting to flee the country.
She was convicted of murder by a Yemeni trial court in July 2017. Her death sentence was upheld by Yemen’s Supreme Judicial Council in 2024 and later approved by President Rashad al-Alimi on December 30, 2024.
Nimisha’s mother, Prema Kumari, has been in Yemen since last year, desperately appealing to the victim’s family for forgiveness. Despite the risks and challenges of being in a conflict zone under Houthi control, she continues to hold on to the hope of saving her daughter’s life.
With just days left before the scheduled execution, pressure is mounting on Indian authorities and humanitarian organisations to intensify efforts and facilitate a last-minute breakthrough.
As the clock ticks down, Nimisha’s fate now hangs in the balance — resting entirely on a decision of compassion from a grieving family thousands of miles away.
