Nimisha Priya, an Indian nurse from Kerala, is set to be executed in Yemen on 16 July, according to campaigners working to save her. She was sentenced to death in 2020 for the 2017 murder of her former business partner, Talal Abdo Mahdi, whose dismembered body was found in a water tank.
Currently lodged in Sanaa central jail, Nimisha was accused of giving Mahdi an overdose of sedatives and chopping up his body. She denies the charges. Her lawyer argued in court that she was a victim of abuse and attempted only to anaesthetise Mahdi to retrieve her seized passport, but the dosage went wrong.
Yemen’s Supreme Court rejected her appeal in 2023, and in January, the country’s Houthi president approved her execution. Under Yemen’s Islamic law, the only way to avoid execution is to receive a pardon from the victim’s family by offering diyah or blood money.
Nimisha’s supporters have offered $1 million to Mahdi’s family. Her mother, a domestic worker from Kerala, has been in Yemen since April, while social worker Samuel Jerome is leading negotiations. India’s Ministry of External Affairs is still verifying the execution date.
