Priya was found guilty of killing her former business partner, Talal Abdo Mahdi, in July 2017. His dismembered body was found in a water tank, and authorities alleged that she had administered a fatal dose of sedatives before disposing of the body.
Photo : PTI
Indian nurse Nimisha Priya, convicted of murdering a Yemeni national in 2017, is scheduled to be executed on July 16. The date has been fixed by the apex court of Yemen.
Nimisha, who hails from Kerala’s Palakkad district, is currently lodged in a jail in the Yemeni capital of Sana’a, which is under the control of Iran-backed Houthi rebels. Yemen’s Supreme Judicial Council recently upheld her sentence, and the execution was approved by Mahdi al-Mashat, head of the Houthi-led Supreme Political Council.
Priya was found guilty of killing her former business partner, Talal Abdo Mahdi, in July 2017. His dismembered body was found in a water tank, and authorities alleged that she had administered a fatal dose of sedatives before disposing of the body. The alleged motive was to retrieve her seized passport and escape alleged abuse.
Priya has denied the murder charges. Her lawyer argued in court that she had intended only to sedate Mahdi temporarily to recover her passport, but the dosage went wrong.
In 2020, a local court sentenced her to death, and the verdict was upheld by Yemen’s Supreme Court in November 2023.
Under Yemen’s Islamic legal system, executions may be halted only if the victim’s family grants a pardon in exchange for diyah – blood money. Efforts have been ongoing to raise the funds and negotiate a settlement with Mahdi’s family.
